2 for Mike Conner

[scoobyscott]

Tied these up out of desperation following on from Mikes thread 'a plan of action'. He suggsted using wooly buggers so heres my attempts. Actually enjoyed tying them, reminded me of when I first started tying
[attachimg=1][attachimg=2]
Have tried them a couple of times but still no luck. To be fair its only been about half an hour at a time. Now where did I put those strike indicators 

[bushy palmer]

Those look the part- well done

[Traditionalist]

They should work OK.  You need plenty of weight on them, ( lead underbody) the bead alone is not enough. I like the body hackle longer, and I now mostly use arctic fox hair instead of marabou but I also use some other "tails".

Here's one of mine which has been very successful especially for grayling;



This fly has caught me a considerable number of large Grayling, not to mention quite a few trout! It is easy to dress.

Wind in about fifteen turns of lead wire spaced along the front two thirds of the body. ( Using the weight in one place, or bead chain eyes, or dumbbbells etc alters the action!). Overwind and varnish.

Tie in a tail of bright green floss, or seal´s fur. Tie in some wire as ribbing, ( I usually use copper). Dub your thread with hare body fur, a complete mix of underfur and guard hairs. Take the dubbed body up to the shoulder. Tie in a grizzled cuckoo ( ( Grizzly!)cock hackle by the butt, and palmer this in relatively close even turns to the tail. Let it hang, and then rib it up to the shoulder with the wire. Tie off,trim, and whip finish. You can use other stuff like Arctic fox or marabou for the tail of course and you can also use various hackles for the body, indeed you can change just about anything really.  I also use one in black which does well at certain times.

Variations, most of which will work;

https://www.google.com/search?q=wooly+bugger&sa=G&hl=en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ei=FH2xUZmIEK3B7AbajoDwDg&ved=0CD8QsAQ&biw=2560&bih=1507&sei=HX2xUaCOGcOV7AacioEY

The weighting is very important. Without it the flies wont work anywhere near as well. Although sometimes an unweighted black woolly bugger fished near the surface will also work well ( mostly on still waters then though).

With regard to fishing it, I find it best to use it more like a very slow spinner than a fly as such. I usually retrieve it very slowly after casting to likely places. But of course you can vary as desired. All the big grayling ( and most of the trout)have taken it hard when slowly retrieved, you can even retrieve directly upstream ( although down and across is usually better) and it still works. It is more like spinning than fly fishing, but I have never known it to fail, and I invariably start beginners off with it. It also has the advantage of attracting some big fish.

Also, you don't have to cast it all the time, you can just let your line drift wherever you want and then retrieve it slowly back.

Some other info;

http://globalflyfisher.com/patterns/perfect-woolly-bugger/

http://midcurrent.com/flies/fishing-woolly-buggers/

PS.  I usually use cheap saddles for hackle, they have a good taper which I like on these flies, the longer hackle acts as a "brush-off" as well so you don't get many hang-ups.

Like these;

http://www.flytyingshop.co.uk/category-s/95.htm

Stuff like this is usually excellent;
http://www.flytyingshop.co.uk/product-p/dccreeindiansad.htm



http://www.cliff-harvey-angling.co.uk/prod_show.asp?id=2608

http://www.rodgersfishingtackle.co.uk/product_catalogue.php?cat=36

http://www.troutcatchers.co.uk/acatalog/fly_tying_cock_capes.html

You can sometimes get good selections very cheaply at various places
E-bay is worth a look;
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0&_nkw=indian+cock+saddles&_sacat=0&_from=R40

I also dye some of these to suit various things. ( Mostly salt water stuff).  A lot cheaper than genetics and I think they work better for a lot of things. I prefer "broken" colours like cree etc.

[scoobyscott]

Thanks Goggs. Mike these are weighted lead wraps along the front half as well as that 4mm tung bead, a bugger to cast on a 4#  :shock: Looking at yours in the photo I think I need to shorten the tail considerably and increase the hackle size. I've not read the links yet but will. Would not have thought Grayling would take them always considered them insect only eaters( cant think how to word that better, its still early). I havn't giving up on it though so thanks again, Scott

[Traditionalist]

Thanks Goggs. Mike these are weighted lead wraps along the front half as well as that 4mm tung bead, a bugger to cast on a 4#  :shock: Looking at yours in the photo I think I need to shorten the tail considerably and increase the hackle size. I've not read the links yet but will. Would not have thought Grayling would take them always considered them insect only eaters( cant think how to word that better, its still early). I havn't giving up on it though so thanks again, Scott

Should be fine then. I rarely bother with beads and such on my fresh water versions, the action is different. The heavy lead wraps are usually fine.

The one in the picture with the short tail was because I was getting a lot of nips from fish without a hook up. But the hackle size is about what I usually use. I find the Indian saddles much better than genetics they have coarser barbs and just seem to work better for some things.

If I am fishing these then I use a short piece of heavier line. There is a "trick" involved in using heavy stuff on a #4 weight. You can use twenty feet of #6  or even #8 line on a #4 weight rod very easily and with no problems. Makes it a lot easier to cast heavy flies. I have such pieces which I can just loop on as required.

Grayling really hammer them. Larger grayling are usually solitary, territorial, and piscivorous. Often they wont look at small insect imitations, they only eat a couple of fish or similar during short feeding periods,which makes them safe from most fly anglers!

Even on heavily fished waters you will usually get very good grayling using this stuff as most anglers use small stuff which the fish simply ignore.

I do use some with fairly "standard" size tails but I then use Arctic fox instead of marabou. It works as well, but lasts a lot longer.

[Traditionalist]

Some more info on grayling here;

http://www.wildfisher.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=16949.0

the links in the other post also give a lot of info on Woolly buggers.