Washington Fly Fishing Forum banner

Nothing new to discover

865 views 16 replies 5 participants last post by  Olive bugger 
#1 ·
#8 ·
Before the salmon runs in Oregon declined to almost nothing, the Purple Woolly Bugger was the primary pattern I used for catching Chinooks. In fact, it was the first WB I ever tried. This was in the early 80s.

It was shown to me by a guy who used them in Alaska. Soooooooooooo.... other than adding some flash to the tail (which hadn't been invented yet) has been around for many moons.

It also worked on one particular steelhead that became my project fish for many hours.

Again, this was long, long ago in a steelhead fishery far, far away -- actually, that's a lie -- it was on The Alsea River about a half hour from here but it really was decades ago.

I could see a steelhead in a tail-out holding behind a subsurface rock. I was hell-bent on catching that guy. In those days I used a sink-tip and positioned myself upstream to make my casts. The water level was shallow and clear so I could watch the reaction of the steelhead.

I tried the usual steelhead patterns for the day and was able to make presentations that swung the fly within inches of the nose of the fish. It would either ignore the patterns or move out of the way. Welllllll.... I'd have none of that. As long as I could see a steelhead, I wasn't leaving until I scared it away or caught it.

Cast, cast, change patterns. Cast, cast, cast, change patterns again. Crap. The danged thing wouldn't play the game. Change, change, cast. No reaction from the steelhead.

It was starting to get late and the fish was starting to wear me down. Finally, I found a beat up old Purple Woolly Bugger in my box and decided what the hell, nothing that was supposed to work was working. I tied on the fly and made a terrible cast. The pattern swung downstream three yards from the steelhead. Suddenly, it rushed out and grabbed the WB. I was so shocked I almost forgot to set the hook. When I did, the fish went nuts. It jumped, it ran, it jumped again. But there was no way I was going to let this fish get away after I spent hours trying to catch it.

I won... finally. It was a wild steelhead so I let it go after giving it a pat on the head and commented, "well played but I finally fooled your ass".

So, the Purple Woolly Bugger has been around for quite some time... I still tie them but don't bother with the flash. I've found that the addition of flash only works in direct sunlight and hardly ever have I caught salmon or steelhead in direct sunlight.

I started tying WBs in a multitude of color to use for salmon, steelhead and SRC. Pink WBs work quite well for SRC, purple worked best for chinook and that one steelhead. White WBs work quite well for coho.
 
#11 ·
Before the salmon runs in Oregon declined to almost nothing, the Purple Woolly Bugger was the primary pattern I used for catching Chinooks. In fact, it was the first WB I ever tried. This was in the early 80s.

It was shown to me by a guy who used them in Alaska. Soooooooooooo.... other than adding some flash to the tail (which hadn't been invented yet) has been around for many moons.

It also worked on one particular steelhead that became my project fish for many hours.

Again, this was long, long ago in a steelhead fishery far, far away -- actually, that's a lie -- it was on The Alsea River about a half hour from here but it really was decades ago.

I could see a steelhead in a tail-out holding behind a subsurface rock. I was hell-bent on catching that guy. In those days I used a sink-tip and positioned myself upstream to make my casts. The water level was shallow and clear so I could watch the reaction of the steelhead.

I tried the usual steelhead patterns for the day and was able to make presentations that swung the fly within inches of the nose of the fish. It would either ignore the patterns or move out of the way. Welllllll.... I'd have none of that. As long as I could see a steelhead, I wasn't leaving until I scared it away or caught it.

Cast, cast, change patterns. Cast, cast, cast, change patterns again. Crap. The danged thing wouldn't play the game. Change, change, cast. No reaction from the steelhead.

It was starting to get late and the fish was starting to wear me down. Finally, I found a beat up old Purple Woolly Bugger in my box and decided what the hell, nothing that was supposed to work was working. I tied on the fly and made a terrible cast. The pattern swung downstream three yards from the steelhead. Suddenly, it rushed out and grabbed the WB. I was so shocked I almost forgot to set the hook. When I did, the fish went nuts. It jumped, it ran, it jumped again. But there was no way I was going to let this fish get away after I spent hours trying to catch it.

I won... finally. It was a wild steelhead so I let it go after giving it a pat on the head and commented, "well played but I finally fooled your ass".

So, the Purple Woolly Bugger has been around for quite some time... I still tie them but don't bother with the flash. I've found that the addition of flash only works in direct sunlight and hardly ever have I caught salmon or steelhead in direct sunlight.

I started tying WBs in a multitude of color to use for salmon, steelhead and SRC. Pink WBs work quite well for SRC, purple worked best for chinook and that one steelhead. White WBs work quite well for coho.
What is direct sunlight?
Will I find it fishing for steelhead in the late autumn?
 
#13 ·
Here's a pattern one of my buddies, Chip Goodhue, came up with that is a combination of a Golden Goose and a Purple Woolly Bugger. The thing was the hot fly for a few years for catching chinook. He never named the pattern so we always referred to it as Chip's Fly.

Hair Head Eye Eyebrow Blue


Now that I think about it, a red or orange colored WB was THE fly to use one day when John and I were fishing for coho on The Alsea. The salmon were moving so fast upstream and were so bright, they kept breaking us off. We both ended up losing every red or orange WB we had on us. We used WBs for anadromous fish long before we ever thought of using them for trout.

Olive, direct sunlight is when the sun is hitting the water and there are no shadows. Flash material has no flash in the water unless the sun hits it. That's why I don't bother using flash on my WBs. I think it was added to the pattern to catch anglers more than fish.
 
#14 ·
Here's a pattern one of my buddies, Chip Goodhue, came up with that is a combination of a Golden Goose and a Purple Woolly Bugger. The thing was the hot fly for a few years for catching chinook. He never named the pattern so we always referred to it as Chip's Fly.

View attachment 32885

Now that I think about it, a red or orange colored WB was THE fly to use one day when John and I were fishing for coho on The Alsea. The salmon were moving so fast upstream and were so bright, they kept breaking us off. We both ended up losing every red or orange WB we had on us. We used WBs for anadromous fish long before we ever thought of using them for trout.

Olive, direct sunlight is when the sun is hitting the water and there are no shadows. Flash material has no flash in the water unless the sun hits it. That's why I don't bother using flash on my WBs. I think it was added to the pattern to catch anglers more than fish.
I agree!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top