Apr 11 2008
Fly Day- Friday: The Wooly Bugger
The Wooly Bugger’s forgiveness, and durability, makes this user-friendly streamer common amongst fishermen around the world. The Wooly Bugger’s simplicity tends to belittle its actual effectiveness when catching fish. It is often shunned away; tucked into small corners of fly boxes, and replaced with more majestic streamers, such as the Hornberg, or the Micky Finn.
This streamer, although it tends be engulfed in a haze of misunderstood inferiority, catches fish of size, and when all is said and done, that’s what really makes a fly count. When fishing the Wooly Bugger, it is most productive to use the ‘quarter turn sweep,’ or the ‘line tight’ method.
This streamer is best if fished in shadowed water, or murky waters, where fish tend to lay to stay cool. It is ideal to cast the Wooly Bugger along the edges of shadows where water meets current. Fish tend to lie along that line so they might conserve energy, but also feast on drifting insects and bugs. When fishing the Wooly Bugger, the most important rule to remember is to never let it sit dormant. The marabou tail gives it a realistic look as it waves through the water. It is that piece of the Wooly Bugger that makes this streamer so effective.
This past week I spent time scouting out, and fishing, a local pond here in northeastern Connecticut. It was my first time fishing this specific body of water, so I met up with the owner of the property to discuss the ins and outs of fishing there. After a few minutes of conversation, he began [...]
Although I enjoy the reliability and strength of my modern graphite, Pfueger rod, there tends to be a great joy in casting my grandfather’s handcrafted split bamboo rod. The rod is a ten and a half foot bamboo rod that he acquired long before I was born. My grandfather passed away before I was old [...]
As we are approaching fishing season, there are certain etiquettes that should be discussed.
One of the most important rules of fly fishing is that a fisherman should never, under any circumstances, ‘cull.’
Culling is the very inconsiderate practice of keeping a trout in a creel, and then, after catching larger trout, returns the spent trout to [...]
Spot fishing is a good technique when you find yourself in a situation where there are a number of visible fish rising. The basic idea is to always be ready for a repositioning of the fly to the place of the most current activity, whether that is along the shore, or toward the mid current [...]
The Usual is a very simple fly to tie, and can easily be accomplished by anyone who is starting to tie flies, due to the fact that it is very forgiving. When I tie the Usual, I prefer to use a #10 Mustad hook. I have found this size to be most efficient when fishing [...]
IMHO I believe the Woolly Bugger to be the most productive single fly any fly fisherman can have in the fly box. It is effective for a wide variety of species and streamer fishing, whether in the rivers or lakes is a lot of fun and really good exercise.
I am so sold on the Woolly Bugger that I even have a Strategy to fish them./>