06-02-2012, 01:13 AM
Wooly Buggers can represent a number of trout treats that is part of the reason they are so effective.
They can be taken for leeches, minnows, damsel fly nymphs, dragon fly nymphs, and even as crayfish. So how you fish them can really vary. I kind of go by the color of the bugger and the situation, season, or lake I am on.
Black and brown buggers are probably going to be taken as a leech. So I will fish them slower and try and give them as much of an undulating leech like motion as I can. They really work well when the water is cold and the fish are slow but looking for an easy meal.
Green, olive, and even some brownish green ones are probably looking like a dragon or damsel nymph, but also maybe a leech again. They work great stripped in small spurts just above the tops of the weeds. There are lots of damsel nymphs out right now.
Brown, olive, orange, and reddish brown can pass for crayfish when fished over rocks etc close to the bottom. If you put some weight close to the front and divide the maribou tail with a small dot of glue on each side, you can make some really effective crayfish imitations out of a wooly bugger. But the regular ones work too.
Crystal buggers, white, and others with lots of flash seem to work well when darted around like a minnow, or even retrieved at a steady troll.
Last there are the wildly colored wooly buggers that get great reaction strikes. Sometimes they work when nothing else will. Fish them fast, medium, and slow. They are an attractor and only experimentation will tell you what works that day.
So what it boils down to is look for some videos of leeches, dragon fly nymphs, damsel nymphs and minnows swimming. You Tube has a bunch. Then when you are at a lake think about how they swim and act, strip your wooly bugger in a manner and at a depth that would imitate that. ...... experiment! Or just burn an attractor WB through the water and see what happens! It's all good and there is no wrong way. Have fun! [cool]
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They can be taken for leeches, minnows, damsel fly nymphs, dragon fly nymphs, and even as crayfish. So how you fish them can really vary. I kind of go by the color of the bugger and the situation, season, or lake I am on.
Black and brown buggers are probably going to be taken as a leech. So I will fish them slower and try and give them as much of an undulating leech like motion as I can. They really work well when the water is cold and the fish are slow but looking for an easy meal.
Green, olive, and even some brownish green ones are probably looking like a dragon or damsel nymph, but also maybe a leech again. They work great stripped in small spurts just above the tops of the weeds. There are lots of damsel nymphs out right now.
Brown, olive, orange, and reddish brown can pass for crayfish when fished over rocks etc close to the bottom. If you put some weight close to the front and divide the maribou tail with a small dot of glue on each side, you can make some really effective crayfish imitations out of a wooly bugger. But the regular ones work too.
Crystal buggers, white, and others with lots of flash seem to work well when darted around like a minnow, or even retrieved at a steady troll.
Last there are the wildly colored wooly buggers that get great reaction strikes. Sometimes they work when nothing else will. Fish them fast, medium, and slow. They are an attractor and only experimentation will tell you what works that day.
So what it boils down to is look for some videos of leeches, dragon fly nymphs, damsel nymphs and minnows swimming. You Tube has a bunch. Then when you are at a lake think about how they swim and act, strip your wooly bugger in a manner and at a depth that would imitate that. ...... experiment! Or just burn an attractor WB through the water and see what happens! It's all good and there is no wrong way. Have fun! [cool]
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