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Flies: Wooly Bugger

Leech? Stonefly? Hellgrammite? Minnow?

Ask any fly fisherman with any experience at all to name his top ten, “must have” flies and I guarantee that 9 out of 10, at least, will include a Wooly Bugger. And the handful who don’t mention it are likely just contrarians. But why? Why is this such a popular fly that is a staple in nearly every angler’s fly box?

I suppose everyone might have their own answer to that question, but for me, the short answer is versatility. The Wooly Bugger was one of the first flies I ever learned about and with it, over my many years of fly fishing, I’ve caught rainbow trout, brown trout, brook trout, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, white bass, rock bass, mooneye, carp, catfish, crappie, bluegill, striper, gar, walleye, and salmon. And I’ve caught fish with it in lakes, ponds, deep rivers, shallow mountain streams, and tailwaters. I suspect the only reason I’ve never caught fish on it in saltwater is that I’ve never tried.

This one could easily pass for a crayfish

What’s it supposed to be? That’s the beauty of it. Depending on how you tie it and how you fish it, it can represent a number of food items. For instance, tied in black and retrieved slowly, it probably represents a leech. Tied in lighter colors and stripped more quickly and erratically, it looks like a baitfish. Tied in a combination of olive and/or rusty colors, it resembles a crayfish. Tied in darker colors and fished on a dead drift, it could imitate a stonefly or hellgrammite nymph. Tie it in bright colors, maybe with an egg on the front, and you have a fly for salmon, steelhead, or many stocked trout.

Try this purple and pink Bugger for winter stockers

Because of its versatility, it could be mentioned as a recommended fly for any month of the year. I selected it for November for a couple of reasons. One, there are just not many hatches or any unusual flies to single out in November. Two, this is one of the big months to fish for large browns in the park. Post spawn brown trout are hungry and winter is coming soon. While you can certainly catch them on smaller flies, why not show them a little bigger meal? Wooly Buggers are big fish flies. At the end of the day, that’s probably the real reason it’s such a successful fly – because it looks like a big meal.

Next time you’re not sure what the fish are biting on, tie on a Bugger. Dead drift it in a riffle. Strip it through a deep flat. Play with it. You may be surprised what you find!

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Clouser Minnow

In freshwater or salt, one of the best baitfish patterns around…. I recently went to Perdido Key, FL on vacation. Once a year, my wife and I take a beach vacation somewhere, usually with another couple. And while these trips are more about relaxation and socializing, I always try to work in at least a little fishing, sometimes with a guide. I didn’t know much about this area and never really even took time to research, so I just packed some gear and planned to figure it out when I got there.

 

On our first day, while kicked back on the beach enjoying an adult beverage, I observed a tremendous amount of feeding activity in the surf. Schools of bigger fish were ripping through schools of smaller fish, and it was happening up and down the coast as far as I could see. Looks like I wouldn’t have to do any scouting after all. All the activity I needed was right outside my back door!

 

My big problem was that I didn’t know what kind of fish were getting eaten and what kind of fish were doing the eating. Don’t you just love beach problems? My saltwater experience is just as limited as my saltwater gear, so I approached it in the exact same way I would approach an unfamiliar freshwater situation. When in doubt, go generic. It was apparent that they were feeding on some kind of baitfish. And what is the most generic, universal fly for imitating a baitfish? A Clouser Minnow.

 

The fly was originated by Bob Clouser in 1987. Bob was a fly shop owner and guide in Pennsylvania and developed the fly for smallmouth bass on the Susquehanna River. I first learned of the fly in the early 90’s and fished it regularly on the smallmouth streams of Central Kentucky. Over the decades, it has been varied in color and style, and has accounted for nearly every species of fish known. Whether freshwater or salt, the diet of nearly every big fish includes small fish. And whether freshwater or salt, most baitfish have some very common characteristics. Most have a long, slender profile, a darker back and a lighter belly, and pronounced eyes that often act as a trigger for predators.

 

Clousers are tied in almost every color combo

While there are various color combinations to better match specific baitfish, all Clouser Minnows have the above-mentioned characteristics. They also have lead eyes positioned in such a way as to allow the fly to ride hook up. And with their bucktail bodies, they retain very little water, making them feel lighter and easier to cast than most other flies their size.

While I most often use this fly for warmwater species, I’ve taken a number of tailwater trout and even the occasional large brown in the park on it. You can bet I’ll fish it more than once in late fall in the park when those big browns begin moving before and after spawn. I tie them on traditional streamer hooks for trout, on larger gape hooks for bass, and on stainless hooks for saltwater species. I’ve had success with a number of different color combinations but my “go to” colors are white and black and white and olive.

 

So the first morning I was at the beach, I got to the water at sunrise with a black and white Clouser tied to my leader. On the second cast into the first school of feeding fish, I was hooked up. The ol’ Clouser does it again and I can now add a couple of speckled sea trout and a whole lot of ladyfish to its list of victims!