The woolly worm is a wet fly... right? I mean it has hackle so why doesn't it float? (Coming from a newbie here) Do you pull it to make it go under water or somthing.
Fishin' squirt,
Michael E.
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The woolly worm is a wet fly... right? I mean it has hackle so why doesn't it float? (Coming from a newbie here) Do you pull it to make it go under water or somthing.
Fishin' squirt,
Michael E.
There are a couple of reasons. First it is not usually dressed on a light wire hook. Second it is not treated with floatant so the chennile body abosrbs water. Third they are often not tied with top quality dry fly hackle. If you tie a wooly worm on light hook with good hackle and treat it with floatant it will float and can be a very effective fish catcher. Omitting the chenille makes it lighter and float better but the principle is the same as many palmered hackle dry flies.
What rainbowchaser said.
I usually tie mine with yarn for the body instead of chennile and palmer with the cheapest hackle can find. If I want them to sink a little faster, I put a few wraps of lead wire on the hook shank or a bead head.
I've found a very effective color combination is a butterscotch yarn body, a little tuft of red yarn about 1/4 hook shank length sticking out the tail and light brown barred hen hackle palmered up the body. Some guys counter wrap wire through the hackle but I've not been using that for a couple years now and have seen no difference in how the flies hold up.
Depending on what you're fishing for and where, is how you retreive them. I use them a lot in ponds and lakes for bluegill. I find an agonizing slow retrieve with a few twitches here and there drives bluegill wild. I've also landed a fair number of bass and crappie with these things while fishing for bluegill. Truth be told, I catch more fish on a woolie worm than I do with a woolie bugger.
Jeff
All in all very good info. I might add that a case in point would be the crackle back (a woolly worm without a tail) and with a thread, floss, or other thin sparse material for the body. Fished with a sinking or intermediate line it is very effective on the swing and still has the ability to be fished dry and skipped for another very effective method.
Steve
Michael,
As all of my fishing buddies know, my "go to" fly is a yellow woolly worm with grizzly hackle & a red wool yarn tail. I tie mine on a TMC 200R curved nymph hook (mostly size 12) & it is DEADLY for big gills, although it will also catch about anything else. I got brown trout in Virginia's famed Mossy Creek on one. BTW, I also got a gill or 2 in your fine State's Lake Moultrie on one.
When dry, it will float for a second or 2...let it lay & give it a very short strip (if needed) & it'll sink. I fish it letting it dead drop, then a strip, then let it drop & don't be afraid to vary the retrieve....try to keep it s..l..o..w.
Mike
I wanted to tie up some yellow woolly worms for the fly box but some guy from Ohio bought the last 80 pounds of chenille allocated to Ohio and PA. He was last seen leaving a Yours Truly with a black hefty bag slung over his shoulder and is currently at large. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by ohiotuber
Woolly Worm are said to mimic Caterpillars (terrestrial) that somehow drop or get flushed into the water.
Al Campbell in his Beginners Fly Tying Series showed how to dress both the Wet and Dry versions of the Woolly Worm. Al shows one style of tying of dressing for the Woolly Worm as a dry terrestrial, and two styles of tying of dressing for the Woolly Worm as a wet terrestrial.
Beginning Fly Tying: Part 12, Hackle and Woolly Worm
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/beginners/part12.php
Material List for Dry and Wet Wooly WormHook: Streamer 2xlong; Eagle Claw L058, Tiemco 5263, Mustad 9672, Daiichi 1720. Body: Chenille, any color you wish. Hackle: Saddle or neck, saddle is preferred. Color to match the body if desired. Thread: 3/0, color to match body or black. Rib: - Wire (used in one method of tying).
Using the same materials for all three versions of the Woolly Worm, just different methods of dressing the hook. ~Parnelli
I have completed the whole 60 part series of Al Campbell's Fly Tying series, and sent him copies of each of the fly patterns that he included in his instructions. Back then I printed all of the articles out on double sided card-stock paper, and created my own three binder collations of the 60 part series. And I showed it to Al at a FAOL Fish-In where he autographed my copy of his work
Al Campbell was not only my instructor and mentor, he was also my friend... ~Parnelli
Sean's not kidding folks...he was with me when I bought a HUGE bunch of yellow chenille at the Cabin Fever show in western PA.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lake Erie High Ball
Hey Copper, if you want to find me, keep checking at Your's Truly & I'll hit ya with a Killet Skillet (unless I eat it first!). ;)
BTW Sean, I just ordered 1,000 size 12 200R curved nymph hooks...need some?
Mikey
Mike you are a true friend.
I would take you up on your generous offer but I am not sure you can spare the hooks. That had to be an honest 200 yards of chenille.
Did you ever find the ends of it? :D
1) Yes I can :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Lake Erie High Ball
2) Yep :shock:
3) Nope :roll:
Mikey
ohiotuber, got plans for a yellow wooly worm or two in the future? Sounds serious, do you lose that many or do you give them away?. Y'all take care, John.
Yeah John, I guess I'll tie a few.Quote:
Originally Posted by Breamchaser
I seldom lose them, but I have been known to give a few away. If someone asks what I'm catching fish on, I like to be able to share a successful fly.
Mike
Not only is the Woolly-Bugger not intended to be a dry fly, the modern trend is to actually add wire weight to the hook shank to make it sink better. Woolly-Buggers are best fished as near the bottom as practical.
To truly understand how to properly use the Woolly-Bugger, it is helpful to know the fly's history. It is no accident that this is one of the most productive fly patterns ever tied, for all species, everywhere.
The modern Woolly-Bugger was designed by Russell Blessing in Pennsylvania, in 1967. It was intended to be a representative fly for helgramites, crawfish or large nymphs, but it was soon discovered that it could be fished to represent baitfish as well.
Blessings pattern was a modification of a classic English pattern known as a Woolly-Worm, which is itself, a modification of the British Palmer-type fly, which dates back to the times of Issac Walton, and beyond. With such a distinguished pedigree, it is little wonder that it is so productive. It has been time-proven. Modern versions are tied in all sizes, colors and use all kinds of exotic materials. Your only limitation is your imagination.
To imitate a baitfish, tie it on a medium length hook, with or without weight, and simply fish it like any other streamer. To imitate a leech, tie it on a long (3x or longer) streamer hook, and weight the first 1/3 of the hook shank. Fish it with pronounced vertical undulations, like a jig. For a nympth, Tie it on a 2x hook in smaller sizes, and fish it near the bottom, with short strips. For crawfish, tie it on a weighted 3x or longer hook, with the hook point riding up (weight the top of the shank, or use dumbell-eye weights to accomplish this), and fish it near the bottom, with short 'hops'. For saltwater, tie them on long, large hooks in gaudy colors. Fish them in mid-water, or near the surface. Buggers can also be tied with bead-head or cone-head weights and fished as jigs. In smaller sizes, in the right colors, they are deadly on crappie and panfish.
The Woolly-Bugger can catch any fish that swims, in any water, anywhere in the world. If you could only have one fly....this is it.
Happy fishing.