First Wooly Buggers....thoughts?

[COMike 0]

RCFetter you READ my MIND!!!!!

 

I have been watching this over and over for the past 20 min and am trying to incorporate it into my tying!

 

Thanks a TON!

 

Mike

 

PS....I need to figure out the marabou stuff still....I have limited marabou from the Project Healing Waters class last week but am "experimenting" with the lower portions that still look "fishy/buggy" to me.......fun to be creative!

[COMike 0]

Practice Wooly Bugger .......

 

Not a good fly for a shadow box but I learned a bunch from the video! I am trying to conserve my tying supplies because money is an option but I will show this because I tied it!

 

 

 

Here are my own criticisms from tying with the stuff laying around because I am practicing!!!!

 

 

1. Marabou was from feathers that I took some time to put together to make them CLOSE to even.......not ideal but I get the point of having them be natural and NOT clipped at the ends!

 

2. I was WAY to aggressive on the thread tying down the chenille.....I should have used a longer portion but again these are my scraps......

 

3. My "tie in point" on where the crappy marabou went should have been MUCH smaller...

 

4. The "hackle" I used was (again a scrap) was WAY TOO SHORT!!! I ran out and it killed this fly!!!

 

5. I was a bit sloppy at the head....too much thread going to the eye. I should have made a bigger head, not too much but I wanted to get this up for comments.....(note to self.....don't hurry!!!)

 

6. I elected to NOT go with wire ribbing on this one......I think it looks better aside from the WAY too big chenille for the hook and my wrapping skills......

 

 

So I'm done for a bit until the critiques come!!!!

 

PLEASE SEND THEM!!!!! I learn from them!

 

RCFetter, by the way your suggestion on hackle (the way it faces) inspired me to really look at what I was doing!

 

 

SEND THE CRITIQUES MY WAY!!! I am bound and determined to learn this!!!

 

Mike

 

 

[RCFetter 0]

I think we are at the same level. Right now I'm only focusing on a WB and a pheasant tail nymph. Sometimes I try a mickey finn.

 

Whenever I tie a good fly I get too confident and my next fly turns out bad. I think I've mastered the whip finish but once in a while I still mess it up.

 

Your recent WB looks good. There should be more hackle near the eye but as you mentioned, you were dealing with short hackle.

[COMike 0]

Thanks RC! You and I are pretty dang close!

 

I'm going to try a gold hare and pheasant tail this week!

 

I still want to do some more woolly buggers though first...get them down before moving on.

[COMike 0]

Ok so I ran out of Wooly Bugger hooks......RATZ!

 

Here were my last four that I tied today. I really need to get some more hackle and marabou.....However, I used Curtis Fry's vid and some Fly Fish Food inspiration and tied these up!

 

Thanks Cheech!!!! I really love the sparkled (?) chenille you sent......

 

Will see if they catch fish this week!!!!!

 

Here is the pic....

 

 

 

 

Mike

[add147 0]

Those look darn good to me COMike! Keep up the good work!!!

[Bryon Anderson 0]

Mike,

 

Your buggers look very good to me for being your first ones. Every one of those buggers will catch fish.

 

I had the same problem with the wire trapping the hackle when I tied them according to the instructions in Morris's book. I eventually did away with the wire and started doing what someone earlier suggested, which is tying the hackle in by its tip at the bend and palmering it forward. That causes the hackle fibers to slant toward the rear of the hook, and they grow longer from back to front (or bend to eye), which gives it that nice tapered look you see on the ones in the fly shop bins. Using the rotary feature on your Peak vise will help greatly in getting your chenille and hackle evenly spaced, too, because you can hold the material at a fixed angle while you spin the vise to wrap the material onto the hook. If you do it by hand, it's hard to keep that angle constant as you palmer your material, and that leads to the spaces between turns (especially of hackle) being different sizes.

 

As far as the heads, that just takes practice. You have to force yourself to leave that last few millimeters of hook shank behind the eye bare as you're tying the fly. Tie off all your materials behind that point, so you don't have to wrap over their bulk as you're building the head. That will make it easier to get a nice, smoothly tapered head. One other solution is to use a bead or cone head on the fly. Buggers usually need a little bit of weight to get them down, and with the bead or cone there, you don't have to build a thread head. You just run all the materials as tight up against the bead or cone as you can, then when you finish off the fly, you just sink your last turns of thread between the materials and your bead or cone.

 

I always put two strands of Crystal Flash (or similar material) on either side of the tail; that gives the fly way more flash than the wire did. And, as you've already discovered, you can also use things like sparkle chenille to give it a little more "bling".

 

The great thing about buggers is that they're not really intended to imitate anything specific, so even the worst-looking ones will still catch fish. Of course it's satisfying to tie neat, professional-looking flies, but you can be catching fish on the ugly ones while you're perfecting your techniques.

[COMike 0]

Mike,

 

Your buggers look very good to me for being your first ones. Every one of those buggers will catch fish.

 

I had the same problem with the wire trapping the hackle when I tied them according to the instructions in Morris's book. I eventually did away with the wire and started doing what someone earlier suggested, which is tying the hackle in by its tip at the bend and palmering it forward. That causes the hackle fibers to slant toward the rear of the hook, and they grow longer from back to front (or bend to eye), which gives it that nice tapered look you see on the ones in the fly shop bins. Using the rotary feature on your Peak vise will help greatly in getting your chenille and hackle evenly spaced, too, because you can hold the material at a fixed angle while you spin the vise to wrap the material onto the hook. If you do it by hand, it's hard to keep that angle constant as you palmer your material, and that leads to the spaces between turns (especially of hackle) being different sizes.

 

As far as the heads, that just takes practice. You have to force yourself to leave that last few millimeters of hook shank behind the eye bare as you're tying the fly. Tie off all your materials behind that point, so you don't have to wrap over their bulk as you're building the head. That will make it easier to get a nice, smoothly tapered head. One other solution is to use a bead or cone head on the fly. Buggers usually need a little bit of weight to get them down, and with the bead or cone there, you don't have to build a thread head. You just run all the materials as tight up against the bead or cone as you can, then when you finish off the fly, you just sink your last turns of thread between the materials and your bead or cone.

 

I always put two strands of Crystal Flash (or similar material) on either side of the tail; that gives the fly way more flash than the wire did. And, as you've already discovered, you can also use things like sparkle chenille to give it a little more "bling".

 

The great thing about buggers is that they're not really intended to imitate anything specific, so even the worst-looking ones will still catch fish. Of course it's satisfying to tie neat, professional-looking flies, but you can be catching fish on the ugly ones while you're perfecting your techniques.

 

Bryon,

 

Thanks for the advice!!!!

 

I personally have an issue with the tying in of the wire. I simply can't get the hackle to stay "UP" for lack of a better term and it is killing me...LOL!

 

Thanks for the tips on the bead head/cone I might try that here in the future!

 

Thanks for the tips on buggers.....they are very popular here in CO and folks SWEAR by them. My Crazy buggers will be fished tomorrow!!!! We will see how they turn out.

 

Mike

[islander727 0]

I simply can't get the hackle to stay "UP" for lack of a better term...

You might be able to pick out trapped fibers with your dubbing needle.

 

I don't mess with wrapping backwards... I tie in everything at the bend of the hook and wrap it forward (if I use wire, I'll just counter wrap it). That's how they taught me, and it just seems easier that way. You'll probably catch more fish than I do with them, though!