Woolly Buggers 2009

[sholgate]

Fishing a lake for brook trout on woolly buggers taught me a lot yesterday. Probably things like...

1. lead them up more (save a few light for slow but the sink rate was very slow even on some I thought were heavy.

2. there is no bad color (although there are certainly some better colors ....)

3. don't rush (I think I was fishing them too fast before)

4. take a moment and watch the action (I am sure most of you know to do this, but I had never before, and it taught me a lot)

Still learning, hating the learning, curve but loving the class both on line and in the "lab"!

Steve

PS - I wanted to post something on the streamers section anyway.

[nutman]

i just took a class on lake fishing ,vary your retrieve was the thing of the day

[wwelz]

I like fishing unweighted flies in lakes and ponds with intermediate or fast sinking lines depending on the depth of the water. I use the countdown method to find the fish and vary the retrieve. A quick movement of the fly followed by no movement at all sometimes provokes a strike

[AaronJasper]

Varying your retrive is good and all but the real key is remembering what you were doing when the fish took your fly!

[sholgate]

"remembering what you were doing when the fish took your fly! "

Wow, I try so hard to remember and even document WHY and HOW I just took a fish not just with what etc... I started to take pictures of nearly all of the landed trout so I can remember WHAT I took them on, but what exactly what was I doing, in what type of water, hatches, species, and the list could go on. That is when I start to really grow as a angler.

[LopatNympher]

I've never fished buggers before but I am probably going to try them out in the Delaware now that the season is closed in the streams for a couple weeks. From what I have read, I should fish them across and slightly downriver and strip it in, staying tight to the fly so I can feel the strike. When there is faster water between me and the fly let the current create a downstream belly in the line and strip it back. The fly will be upstream from the belly of line and will be pulled downstream as I strip, which would be more natural of a wounded minnow. Am I on the right page here?

[VTflyfishing]

There is no wrong way to fish the woolly bugger. Just give it a little life and you should catch fish.
Sometimes dead drifting buggers produce's results.

[sholgate]

This is my new favorite pattern.

[sholgate]

I am really beginning to like the buggers. Today it was windy, muddy, and opening day in SE PA and a good part of the morning I was trying everything to no success. But then I tried a varigated red and yellow bugger with a black tail and I hooked up with 5 'bows within an hour. Maybe instead of my "last chance" bug, maybe I will begin include buggers as one of my "go to" flies.

[wwelz]

Has anyone been susessfull using buggers euro-nymphing as the anchor fly ? I have tried many times with no luck. Maybe I am doing something wrongf.