last summer i fished for bass using a brown bugger. the bass liked it so much the hackle got tore off. guess what? they still ate it!! so what I did was add beadchain eyes instead of beadhead so it ride hook point up and just add this “wooly bugger” chenille instead of the hackle for a somewhat buggy effect. should work great! also got this buggy chenille stuff in olive and black!
I dig it!!!
What is the name of the buggy chenile?
What’s the name of that buggy chenille?
fishaholic69,
Those bugs look good.
If you would like hackle on your buggers that won’t destruct so fast, tie in your hackle and body material then twist them together before winding the body up the shank. Lefty showed this “bullit-proofing” step once at a show.
…lee s.
fishaholic69,
Nice tie, I have been playing around with a couple of ideas I like to call “crawbuggers”. Are you fishing still water or streams?
If streams, how do you fish these to keep them along the bottom like a crayfish?
Thanks,
Mike
I believe it is called Wooly Chenille and J. Stockard and Wilderness Angler carry it. It gives a great body-fuzz to the flies. I have also used it doubled and knotted as small craw claws.
http://www.wildernessangler.com/servlet/Detail?no=1105
I toss them upstream and either fish them back as a swimming fly, or wait till they hit bottom and drag and/or hop them back.
Note that Wilderness Angular is free shipping…a good site to use if you are in need of just a few items…e.g. woolly chenille:cool:.
ya guys its wooley chenille. wilderness angler has free shipping too! I got the black from there then after I seen how cool the stuff was I got me olive and brown from jstockard when I got my glue sticks and glue gun from there. I am fishing rivers and creeks for my smallies but usually its gets very shallow in the summer so the water doesn’t flow too much. I usually cast into a deep rocky area let it sink down to where ya want it then to retrieve I strip the line while I jerk the rod tip and at same time. pause and let it sink and repeat. I will watch the tip of my fly line while doing this for any sudden movements. they usually grab it on the drop mostly and you will see you fly line tip dart a lil. then I set the hook and see if I got one. these will work in a lake too I am sure. I use a floating line with these. if ya had to get really deep try a sinking line or bigger dumbell eyes. thanks for the idea on the claws! also thanks for the tip to wind the hackle and chenille I just seen that on a video 2 days ago!
This is why most crawfish patterns are designed to catch anglers instead of fish. I’ve been using essentially beadhead or clouser style buggers as crawfish patterns for years.
Guess what? The fish love em. They don’t care if there are claws or a carapace or any of the other things that the fancy crawfish patterns have.
Kevin
I noticed that too. why spend half hour tying some crazy patterns up when the simple easy to tie ones work just as good? I guess if you are tying for looks its cool but I am just tying to fish. I am lazy when it comes to the vise. I make up what I need and thats about it.
Re: crayfish…there is a school of thought that fish like young crayfish without developed claws.
the bass in my river in the summer weren’t all that big either so a size 8 or 10 bugger is about the biggest you can go here is a pic of some of the stuff I catch with um. only time bass are really big are in the spring when they come in to spawn from lake erie. the last pic is a spring smallie
For immature Crawfish, check out Jim’s Lil Bugger at Mad River. The Brown & Beige BH is a killer fly. I have caught Gill, Carp, SM, Rock Bass, and Steelies with it. It is an easy tie.
I just tie what I call Creek Critters. They all have a Bugger ancestry. I am currently working on a Bugger-like jig for LM. I’m trying to imitate a Jig ‘n’ Pig. I tie a regular conhead bugger, but before I finish wrapping the chenille and the hackle, I tie in a bunch of rubber leg material I got from Fly Tyers Dungeon. (thanks for the tip FA69). I just finished one with a tail of blue Rabbit zonker - a body of black sparkle chenille with black hackle - black legs and a gold cone. I’m going for more of a grub than a worm look. Tie in the legs so the long parts are aimed toward the hook. When you tie in the chenille it will make the legs stick out from the body.
fishaholic69,
I agree with you on that. Sometimes I try to get creative or fancy but most of my time at the vise is spent on easy to tie, cheap patterns like buggers, clousers and gurgle pops. Smallmout are my favorite fish and most of mine seem to be clones of yours. We should try to hook up on some of the Northern Ohio streams this coming season.