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Wooley bugger colors

3K views 19 replies 15 participants last post by  ceviche 
#1 ·
Just getting started in fly fishing so please bear with me if my questions seem too basic.

Besides black, is there another wooley bugger color I might want to try for western washington lakes? My primary focus will be wading in the sound for src and coho. For the salt, I have a basic salt water collection of flies. I also happen to live about 10 minutes from lake meridian (Kent) which is open all year. I thought I would use the lake as a place to perfect my casting. My lake collection to date includes only black wooley buggers. I thought I might try some brown as well. Any other colors I might want to consider?

Thanks,
Rick
 
#2 ·
Olive is a good second color. You can also mix colors, too. Try a bugger with black tail and hackle and olive body. People have combined red and black. I have a bugger that has an "insect green" tail, wintermint(?) new-age chennille body, and olive barred schlappen hackle. This variation has proved worthy, having caught mostly browns and some rainbows.

You might also try tying mini-buggers. These are tied on smaller hooks. Instead of using chennille, after securing the tail with a couple thread wraps, you continue wrapping the hook shank forward with the marabou to form the body. There are actually several different ways of making mini-buggers, but that's the route I took to make mine.
 
#18 ·
You might also try tying mini-buggers. These are tied on smaller hooks. Instead of using chennille, after securing the tail with a couple thread wraps, you continue wrapping the hook shank forward with the marabou to form the body. There are actually several different ways of making mini-buggers, but that's the route I took to make mine.
On the mini-buggers how small are you talking? 10, 12, smaller?

Thanks,

Otis28
 
#4 ·
I usually carry them in white, brown, black, and olive. One of them will almost always work. Another great fly is the bow river bugger, I always have great success fishing them in lakes as an alternative to wooly buggers. Hope this helps.

Steven
 
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#12 ·
My two favorite lake buggers are:
-ginger body with black hackle, black marabou and a conehead
-Peacock body, brown hackle, stacked olive, brown and black marabou and a gold bead.

Of course I'm fishing these in south cental Alaska so things might be different down there but I think contrast, stiff hackle to push water, and coneheads/beads are universal fish catchers.
 
#15 ·
Olive, Black, Brown, Maroon, and White. You can combine these colors too. You can't go wrong with any of these colors. I have found that some colors work better at times, but all of them have produced well consistantly. Good luck.
 
#19 ·
Try one with "Halloween New Age Chenille" palmered with black hackle and black marabou tail, with or without a gold beadhead, size 10.

This and a blacker version tied with "Black Pearl New Age Chenile" for the body were my 'go to" buggers last year and they drew lots of strikes. Size 10 was working great!

Olive, palmered in brown, with a big red thread head is a good one. I gave one of these in size 6 to a buddy of mine to troll with his spinning rod and some split shot, and he came back begging me to tie him up some more.

Grizzly is good. I had one good one tied up last year, size 8, with a brown marabou tail, and it was slaying 'em until I lost it. I'm not surprised I haven't tied up some replacements, since I'm so disorganized.
 
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