So I’ve never caught anything off a Woolly Bugger and i really want to, so im looking for some killer color combos has anyone got any?(besides standard black and olives). Im going to tie like crazy as its too cold for me to fish.
Thanks
I use Chartruce tail, Black body and Grizzley Chart. Hackle, I tie them in sz 12 to 2 for our 'gills and Basses. I also tie a white soft hackle version with some pearl flash that seems to look like a minnow, at least is gets attacked like one.
White is my go to color for buggers. sz. 8-10, weighted, white tail, white body, white hackle (long hackle). Drift it, swing it, strip it…everything works.
White also has the added benefit of being easy to see.
really? i would venture to say that at least half of the trout i have brought to hand have come on some sort of bugger pattern, mainly olive and black. i have also had good success with this, which also works great in warmwater as well: http://freestateflyfishers.org/?page_id=282
There is a great new book called “WOOLY WISDOM”. I beleive it would be helpful in your
tying and attemps at catching fish on a Wooly.
Amazon.com: Woolly Wisdom: How to Tie and Fish Woolly Worms …Amazon.com: Woolly Wisdom: How to Tie and Fish Woolly Worms, Woolly Buggers, and Their Fish-Catching Kin. Tying Recipes for 400 Patterns!
www.amazon.com/Woolly-Wisdom-Buggers-Fish-Catching-Patterns/dp/1571883517
Fishin’ Jimmy
The “Red Eyed” or “Martini” Bugger. I have one that has personaly caught 48 trout (now Retired)! 
Hook - 6 to 14
Thread- Olive
10 wraps 0,020 lead wire
Tail - Olive Maribou & Crystal flash
Hackle- Grizzley or White
Body- Olive Chenille
Eye- Red Ultra Chenille
Tips: Make a couple of thread wraps under the tail to help keep it from getting fouled in the hook bend. Coat the hook shank with Sally Hansons before wraping the Chenille body.
If you want to tie something crazy, go for the firetiger wooly bugger.
Chartruse or orange for the tail. Orange palmered over black for the body. Chartruse hackle.
DazWah,
Believe I saw this somewhere here on the FOAL board. A killer bugger for me has been one that’s all black; but, it has about 6 strands of flash in the tail and then it’s wound up through the body to the tie off point probably about 5-6 turns of it. Caught my biggest trout ever last year on it. Was a 27" brown with 16" girth; estimated weight between 10.64 and 12.02 pounds depending on which formulae you used. I believe it was closer to the 10.64 weight though. Caught other species on it and bass seem to love it too.
Here are a couple of combos that have worked well for me.
Olive body with a burnt orange tail and hackle.
Black body with a burgundy tail and hackle.
I have to agree with “dpenrod” I too use the chilli peper as a go to fly. I have never been shut out when fishing that fly, but don’t let the freestaters know you call it a wooly bugger, or they will faint.
I think that my favorite is:
Hook: Mustad 9671, size 6 - 10
Thread: olive (or black)
Tail: Yellow marabou with a little red mixed into the center. The red seems to add a lot.
Weight: (optional) smallest lead-free wire available
Body: olive mohair yarn
Hackle: Wet fly grade yellow tied in by the small end & palmered with the larger hackle at the front. The hackle is fairly long to move a lot of water.
Note that a variant involves tying a tail of crystal chenille that is tyed in and looped around and tyed back in. The loop is parallel to the water’s surface and sticks back 1/2 - 2/3 of the fly’s body length. The chenille is bright chartreuse. This fly can be ginked on the top and sides so that it rides in the meniscus with the hackle on the bottom moving beneath the surface. After it sinks, it can be worked like a normal wolly bugger. This has worked well for me on bluegills.
good luck,
Ed
:shock: I’m shocked! You’ve never caught anything on a Woolly Bugger??? :shock:
If you can have only one fly…that should be the one. I think they used to throw in Mickey Finn’s into the survival kits way back when…but now …It should be an Olive or Black WB.
Other colors that will be helpful are white, brown, claret, purple, yellow and Chartreuse. Other combinations or suggestions are to substitute Peacock Hurl for the chenille or use a synthetic Peacock chenille. A Mickey Finn Bugger works too. yellow marabou tail, red chenille body, yellow hackle. You can really go nuts with buggers. There is a book out there called Woolly Wisdom
http://globalflyfisher.com/reviews/books/bookbase/show_single.php?id=105
You might want to check it out.
I’ve caught trout, bass, and panfish on buggers, either olive or black. Haven’t had one hit the fancier colored ones.
Jim
i have caught fish off woolly worms, they are good ambush flies. Its winter here in Australia and hopefully i can bag a fish off a bugger this year.
What colors do you use for warm water vs cold water?
I agree with others, my most productive woolly is a chili pepper, FOTW Fall 2003. A close second is Jay Sheppard’s Patuxent special.
Thirdly for crappie my most productive fly has been a yellow wooly, especially in the spring.
Wayneb
my go to buggers are usually black,brown, olive or white. I never tried any others yet. remember a brown bugger is a great crayfish pattern too and bass love crayfish! white is a great minnow pattern, black and olive are great for leech patterns. also try using bunny leeches in those same colors. if not then I am using clousers and that pretty much is all the streamer patterns I use. if u wanna get creative with it try a white bugger with some red hackle or sumthing to imitate blood. that be sweet
Hi Daz,
You may be the only regular fisherman in the world who can honestly claim to never have caught a fish on the Wooly Bugger. Even if the trout are remaining closed-mouthed, brim, chub, baitfish or something usually attack the bugger. They are almost impossible to fish incorrectly as long as you put the fly in the water. My advice would be to keep trying because this is the juicy nightcrawler of the fly world. I don’t fish psychedillic versions of the bugger and usually stick pretty close to earth tones. I do add flash to the tail sometimes and sometimes use ice chenille or Master Bright dubbing for the body when I want a little extra attention. Keep trying. You can’t fail with this fly. 8T 
I’ve never caught a fish on a bugger. Strictly warm water, though. I will admit, though, that I rarely tie one on to my tippet.
Other than bream fishing, I tend to throw flies that look like nymphs or other bugs. I don’t even fish streamers very often. I just have more confidence that fish will eat something they recognize.
Even back an the bad-old-days spin-fishing, I tended to lures that looked and acted more like forage than trying for shock value.
I think I will tie up a few buggers this weekend to fish on my next excursion, and really give them a chance.
Who knows, I may even tie up a few with shock value.
Kirk
We’ve got to get in touch with Ripley’s Believe It or Not and the Guinness Book of World Records. We’ve found two in the same thread. This feat may never be duplicated again. 8T