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First Wooly Buggers....thoughts?

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Here are my first two Wooly Buggers.....

 

What are your thoughts?

 

post-52487-0-82390100-1397762664_thumb.jpg

 

I am still struggling a bit with getting the hackle to stay vertical when I counter wrap the wire. I have tried moving it back and forth (the wire) and that seems to help a bit. The first Wooly I chucked as it was horrid...I essentially trapped 90% of the hackle underneath...OOPS!

 

Mike smile.png

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It looks like you are tying in the tail at two different point. One is slightly into the bend of the hook and one is about 1/4" up the shaft. Tie in at the start of the bend.

 

You may be spinning or twisting the hackle as you palmer it on. This will cause it to lean back, stand straight up and lean forward, different with each turn. Don't allow it to twist.

 

The hackle MAY Have been applied without even spacing as it's palmered towards the eye. Hard to tell from the picture. Keep the spacing consistent.

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Heavy nets,

 

Can you be more specific?

 

We were taught to tie in all the materials at the bend. The top one was in class and my first. The second was "my" attempt to duplicate what my teacher showed. I am confused on the "palmered" word you used....

 

Mike :)

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I edited my post. A re-read may help.

 

To palmer is to apply the material (usually a hackle) in a fashion which forms a helix. Kind of like the thread on a bolt. Sometimes the pitch is tight together, sometimes farther apart. It depends upon the materials, their sizes, the hook size and the look you are trying to achieve. I palmer most of my buggers with hackle spacing about 1/8" to 3/16" apart.

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AHHH That makes more sense!!!!

 

I will try another one here in a few minutes after my wife get's home......I think I get your point!

 

My issue is placing the hackle over the chenille....I try to put the hackle in the spaces left with the chenille if that makes sense? I should probably make certain the chenille is evenly spaced then I can put the hackle in the "gaps"....

 

How does the head look? I have the most trouble with that and think that I wrap too much thread to bulk it up.

 

Mike :)

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Your idea of placing the hackle in the gaps is fine, especially if the width of the chinnile is the spacing you want. If not, try wrapping the hackle in the opposite direction of the chinnile.

 

Run both the chinnile and the hackle to within one hook eye diameter of the eye. If the hook's eye is 1/8" in diameter, then stop the material about 1/8" from the eye. Tie the material off in that space between the eye and the material. Try to form a bit of a cone with the thread having the point near the eye. Put your whip finish knot on top of this cone. Coat the cone with nail polish, super glue, etc. or use two whip finish knots.

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Just tied this one up with some different hackle and marabou......it is brown but I don't know how to take better pics with my phone.

 

Thoughts????

 

 

post-52487-0-70299100-1397771168_thumb.jpg

 

I don't have any lead thread so using some solder that is w/o flux in it for some added weight.....

 

 

Mike smile.png

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That one looks good, also if you are having trouble with the wire rib, tie the hackle in at the back, and wrap it forward, the tie it off at the head, then you don't need to use wire.

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That one looks good, also if you are having trouble with the wire rib, tie the hackle in at the back, and wrap it forward, the tie it off at the head, then you don't need to use wire.

 

Good point! However, shouldn't we use wire to add a bit of "flash"?

 

 

Hackle looks great. Just run the material closer to the eye and make the head smaller.

 

Ahh ok.......will work on that tonight!!!! Thanks!!!

 

Mike :)

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Looks darn GOOD to me! I started my hackle on my first one at the rear like was suggested earlier in the thread. I purchased some thin copper, gold, and silver wire to try doing the ribs but haven't tried it out yet. Of course I live in east Texas so I don't think the crappie, bass, and pan fish are as picky as the trout and salmon are in the western part of the country. I may be wrong with that assumption....

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Well I haven't had any problems, and really how much flash does a tiny piece of wire give off? But you could always add flash to the tail, or tie it in from the head, parallel to the body, like they say: there's more than one way to skin a cat! You just gotta experiment and figure out the best way for you, and stick with it! :)

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I'm just a beginner so take this for what it's worth. The hackle has two sides. It looks like you are tying in the hackle so that it's leaning towards the eye of the hook when it should be leaning towards the tail of the hook.

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RCFetter,

 

Good point....I might have done just that, however I "pulled" the hackle forward a ton to make it look more buggy....I'll try a couple more and see how they turn out!

 

And by the way......beginner and expert....I take all observations and critiques!!!! Thanks for pointing this out!!!!

 

Mike :)

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This video is probably one of the most posted one on wooly buggers. At 4:10 he starts talking about the hackle and mentions the shiny (convex) side should face forward.

 

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