Best way to fish a wooly bugger

[salmo]

I know this has probably been covered before, but I'm looking for some tips on how to fish a wooly bugger on a small stream.

 

[CLSports]

Dead drift it in a current or strip it in at varying speeds to see what works. Most times an eager fish will slam it right after it hits the water. There is no right or wrong way to fish it.

 

[afishinado]

salmo wrote:
I know this has probably been covered before, but I'm looking for some tips on how to fish a wooly bugger on a small stream.

Cast upstream and dead-drift your bugger, when it passes your position let it swing across (sometimes animating the fly on the swing works) and let it hang downstream after the swing for a bit, and strip-strip-strip it in.

Keep trying all the above - dead-drifting, swinging, hanging and stripping and cover all the water to let the fish tell you which presentation they are looking for that day.

Good luck.

 

[FarmerDave]

The best way to fish woolly buggers is keep them out of the trees.

Seriously.

Ditto what the others already said, there is no wrong way.

 

[Hook_Jaw]

I like to fish a bugger as a trailer to a bigger streamer or the other way around trout like the sight of a fish chasing something. I have caught big trout just dead drifting them by big boulders or under cut banks also. There is no wrong way to fish it to me.

 

[tomgamber]

NO WRONG WAY IS THE RIGHT ANSWER. DEPENDS WHAT YOU WANT TO IMITATE.

 

[Nymph-wristed]

They are like Oreo cookies.

 

[sarce]

Toss it a few feet upstream of cover, let it sink close to the bottom on a slack line. Start stripping after a few seconds. Short but quick strips. Many times the fish has already taken the fly before you start stripping.

 

[gulfgreyhound]

A bead head can be fished like a jig,pop and drop. As was said not really any wrong way to fish one. Patterns are a personal choice. GG

 

[IdratherbePhishing]

Salmo,

Not sure if you remembered how I did it on clArks. Anyway will work.
I personally enjoy swinging or manipulating more than dead drifting. 3/4 upstream strip back is a good one. Jerk strip retrieve etc. try a white colored bugger. Then you'll see what is going on

 

[salmo]

I do remember. You were deadly with that fly.

 

[LetortAngler]

Agree, no wrong way.
My preference however is working them downstream. Cast down and across with some slack to a likely holding area and let it sink close to the bottom, then swing it out away from the targeted area as slow as possible, or quick jerks. . Trout holding under cover I've found to be much more susceptible to taking a bugger, even if badly presented, than one laying in open water - during the daytime anyway.
Never had much luck dead-drifting buggers though.

 

[outsider]

afishinado wrote:

salmo wrote:
I know this has probably been covered before, but I'm looking for some tips on how to fish a wooly bugger on a small stream.

Cast upstream and dead-drift your bugger, when it passes your position let it swing across (sometimes animating the fly on the swing works) and let it hang downstream after the swing for a bit, and strip-strip-strip it in.

Keep trying all the above - dead-drifting, swinging, hanging and stripping and cover all the water to let the fish tell you which presentation they are looking for that day.

Good luck.

Best answer in my opinion, although I twitch it while dead drifting.

 

[ryansheehan]

Anyone have a bad way to fish it, short of keeping it out of the water?

 

[FarmerDave]

ryansheehan wrote:
Anyone have a bad way to fish it, short of keeping it out of the water?

Fishing it where there is no fish?;-)

I can think of just one. IMO dead drifting them in calm water is a waste of time, but it is only opinion. It needs some movement like most other flies in calm water. But quite effective dead drifting in faster water.

What I am saying, is when fishing them in a pond, or a pool with minimal current, I work them. I may "dead drift" for a brief time but mainly to settle to whatever depth I want, then start "working" them. They are often taken during the fall and I don't mean time of year although that, too.

When fishing riffles and pocket water, I often let the current do most of the work, meaning dead drift into a swing, then maybe swing it back and forth or twitch it a few times before retrieve or recasting.

 

[foxtrapper1972]

Has anyone here caught fish on a dry wooly bugger? I have more than once,

 

[FarmerDave]

Yes. Me too.

I have had stocked trout hit my strike indicator many times, so I carry a few unweighted buggers for situations where they are hitting it a lot. It has salvaged an otherwise frustrating day. Can't say I ever caught a wild trout that way, though.

I even caught a very nice steelhead once while using an unweighted woolly bugger in the film.

After the second hit on a yarn strike indicator while dredging for steel, I tied on the unweighted bugger. First cast, I hooked up, but it got off. A couple casts later, it was off to the races and it wasn't the same fish. Landed a very nice chromer that I'd estimate went about 8 pounds. First one was a dark one. What's weird is I was at least 10 miles upstream from the lake. Grand River, so I wasn't site casting.

Since then, I caught at least one steelhead just a few inches under the surface using an unweighted bugger on Elk creek. That one I was site casting to an obviously active fish. They don't feed that way very often, but when they do, it's a blast.

 

[tomgamber]

ryansheehan wrote:
Anyone have a bad way to fish it, short of keeping it out of the water?

yes, with your tippet wrapped around the hook bend so it is retrieved backward and at an angle...occasionally from the float tube, wondering how long was i doing that?

 

[FarmerDave]

tomgamber wrote:

ryansheehan wrote:
Anyone have a bad way to fish it, short of keeping it out of the water?

yes, with your tippet wrapped around the hook bend so it is retrieved backward and at an angle...occasionally from the float tube, wondering how long was i doing that?

LOL!

Another bad way is fishing one with a bent or broken hook.

Unless of course one is into hookless fly fishing, but I'm not.

 

[Hook_Jaw]

Was fishing a zonker once kept missing fish was to lazy I guess to check the fly finally after another miss I checked it hook was broken off.