Wooly bugger feather wrong direction?

[Edgewood 0]

Hello,  

been tying for less than a month. Wooly bugger saddle feathers keep pointing to front of hook, toward bead. How do you get them to point rearward, to hook? 

[SilverCreek 0]

Wrap hackle from head of fly to tail as in the video below.

 

[flyflinger 0]

Great video and method! 

Alternate method:  Instead of using the thread to secure the hackle, before you wrap the body material, tie in a wire rib (you get to choose the color - to blend in or to add contrast/flash).  After you reverse palmer the feather back to the tail as in the video, secure the feather by wrapping the wire over it just like the thread in the video.  Wiggling the wire slightly back and forth as you wrap forward will avoid trapping too many hackle fibers.  Tie the wire off behind the head with thread.   

Regards,   

[flytire 0]

tie the feather at the rear and wrap forward

 

[chugbug27 0]

16 hours ago, Edgewood said:

Wooly bugger saddle feathers keep pointing to front of hook, toward bead. How do you get them to point rearward, to hook? 

The feather has a concave side (which is dull) and a convex side (which is shiny). When you tie the feather in, orient the feather so the concave side is going to face the hook bend when you start wrapping. Then keep that concave side facing to the bend as you wrap the feather around the hook; don't twist it, keep it oriented to the rear as you wrap.

Wrapping from the tail forward or from the head rearward has nothing to do with the way the barbs end up pointing....

 In the video, he gets the feather oriented correctly by tying the feather on top of the hook with the bare stem pointed to the eye and the concave side facing the hook shank, convex (shiny) side facing you (away from the hook shank). He then bends the stem up so the concave side is facing the bend as he wraps backward.

In the step by step he's tied the feather in by the tip, perpendicular to the hook with the concave side facing the bend, and he keeps it facing the bend as he wraps forward.

[SalarMan 0]

Flytire and chugbug27 are spot on on how to put the hackle onto a Woolly Bugger. Much simpler than the video and just as effective!!!

Another option is folding or what is also known as doubling the hackle.

 

[RickZieger 0]

I find the bugger with hackle wrapped the "wrong" way works better in dirty water. I think more water movement to attract along the lateral line of fish.

 

Rick 

 

[SilverCreek 0]

1 hour ago, RickZieger said:

I find the bugger with hackle wrapped the "wrong" way works better in dirty water. I think more water movement to attract along the lateral line of fish.

 

Rick 

 

As Rick wrote, the lateral line detects "acoustic vibrations" or low level vibrations. They are pressure wave detectors and the lateral lines are what predator fish use to detect prey or injured fish.

Here's an excerpt from a Field and Stream Article from years ago.

"Acoustic signatures" can be designed into flies without using mechanical devices like a propeller or rattles. One of Gary Borger's favorite easy to tie patterns are collared leeches. When a fly is stripped, the fly creates a pulse or sound wave as the fly pushing the water aside and forward. A muddler minnow or fly with a "collar' such as a collared leech creates a larger "bow wave" as it is retrieved. It also produces a trail of turbulence behind this collar since the collar is not streamlined. Both the forward pulse of sound and the trailing turbulence can be detected by the lateral line of a predator fish.

The collared leech which has several variations. For dirty water, the black collared leech provides the acoustic signature to attract predators and a strong silhouette in muddy conditions."

Here are 4 variations of this simple to tie pattern. Copy and paste the URLs into your browser.

http://www.garyborger.com/2009/10/29/the-collared-leech/

http://www.garyborger.com/flies-and-fly-tying/the-down-and-dirty-leech/the-bullhead-leech/

http://www.garyborger.com/2009/11/21/purple-hot-head-leech/

http://www.garyborger.com/flies-and-fly-tying/the-down-and-dirty-leech/

[DarrellP 0]

I tend to wrap the feather without folding.   When the stem goes into the groove in the Chenille,  the feathers go kindof both ways.

[flytire 0]

i dont think fish care one way or the other

[chugbug27 0]

Saw this out new(ish?) today from Charlie Craven, popped up on my phone as it probably did for many others.... Regardless, he speaks to all these issues, and his vid and tying is top notch and compelling as always.

https://youtu.be/OCJX9Mmi4mk

 

[flyflinger 0]

Charlie is the best!  This is the method I was trying to outline in my June 13th reply to this post.  While there are many good alternate methodologies, there are usually reasons why a certain process survives.  In this case, it is the resulting rearward taper of the hackle which tilts slightly back, and the reinforcement of that hackle by the wire rib.  Also, if you view Charlie's video, don't underestimate the power of purple! . . .

Regards,

    

[flytire 0]

purple works!

[flyflinger 0]

Beautimous! . . .

I like the contrasting hackle.   

[RLinNH 0]

I wanna say that for the first 2-3 years of my young fly fishing life, I caught just about every fish on an Olive Wooly Bugger or a Zug Bug. And Waaaaaaaaay back then, I figured that I had the pattern down pat. Well, I was wrong. An old dog can learn new tricks. I still haven't gone nuts on the Wooly Bugger. But I guarantee you. One cold night this winter, the time will come when I employ all of the above tactics. Great thread!!!