Myth Busters Needed

[Yakfly]

"Either the woolly booger is a myth, or I must be fishing them completely wrong. "

Hmmm... not catching with a bugger?... I have always heard (and believed) there's no wrong way to fish a woolly bugger!

First, find good water - meaning for trout and smallmouth streams, transition areas. Fast water next to slow (seams), deep next to shallow (dropoffs), and my favorite bedrock next to gravel, shade next to sunny, etc.... Cast quartering downstream and let it swing through the transition area.. when gets to the bottom, let it hang, strip if if needed. Often strikes will come at bottom of the swing. Usually after you give up and are walking to next wading spot you'll bet the telltale "bump bump". If you're not hanging up on bottom every once in a while, ad some weight to your leader. You want to be dredging the bottom.

Fishing the shadkill on the White at high water? Big white/silver woolly under indicator always works for me.

Also a killer tactic is to dead drift the woolly under a big indicator thru deep, slow water.

Woolly tied with a foam body makes a great grasshopper fly in late summer.

For smallmouth - tie it big and hairy with some rubber legs makes a good crawfish - tie in purple/black/olive - heavily weighted, and then fish on sinktip line. Basically fishes like texas rigged soft plastics.

Good luck.

[RiverRunner]

I would say that the WB is my go to fly on the White and the Norfork. I usually fish a #10 (heavily weighted with lead) with a gold beadhead. The most productive color for me lately has been olive pearl. I've fished it just about any way you can, dead drifted under an indicator, stripped in slowly, and on a sink tip. I would say, that a majority of the fish I've caught on WB's have been on the swing, but I've caught them just about any way you can fish it. For some reason (maybe the relative lack of baitfish), the WB has never produced as well for me on the Little Red. When I have caught them on it there, it is usually a black #10.

Don't give up on it yet, maybe spend a day on the water with nothing but WB's and see how you do.

[Crippled Caddis]

Tie 'em as Dano described. Fish 'em like Drew, Yakfly & River Runner said. The problem isn't with the fly. Stick with 'em 'til YOU 'get it'. You'll be glad you did! CC

[drew03cmc]

Speaking of woollies, I need to grab some good hackles for a few and some more marabou...well, now I know what to get at the orvis warehouse sale Friday night.

[Greg]

Zander

Have you ever tried a mohair leech pattern? I'm like you in that I've had sporadic success with WB's. But the mohair leech is one of my most productive patterns. I'm not sure why that is since they are so similar though.

Greg

[Tightline]

Interesting,

Zander I had been trying to figure why my wooleys that I tie wouldn't catch fish nearly as well as some that I bought at a local fly shop because mine weren't that much different, the hackle on mine didn't look as good so I thought that was it.

Well I finally got smart enough to tear one all the way down to the bare hook and found that the bought one was heavily wraped with lead, mine weren't.Since I started weighting mine down I have been doing much better.

Love the wooleys and jigs!

[drew03cmc]

Weighted or not, this is the most effective fly I have ever used!

[zander]

I will have to tie some like you guys mentioned. As far as the mohair leeches a have some different colors, and I haven't has a chance to fish them much, as if I am throwing a streamer I tend to throw Leonard's PMS and pine squirrel sculpin in that order. I'll have to fish those more too. They look pretty good to me, my inner self even got tempted to bite it a time or two before my brain reminded me of the hook inside . Thanks again for all of the wonderful input on the topic.

[creek wader]

I've never caught anything on a wooly, either. I've slain smallies on my crawfish imitators, but not on a wooly. I'll try the methods that you guys have suggested. Let you know how it turns out. By the way "Hoglaw", where'd you get that name? You a railroader?

[Danimal]

I can catch smallies on woolies, but never trout. Beats me. Dan-o