Woolly Bugger (Claret Is My Jinx Color) Can They Even See It??

Claret Bugger~Unrequited Love, SwittersB

Woolly Buggers. A proven pattern in black, green, brown, yellow, and claret. Claret? Always a recommendation. Listen to a Chan. Listen to my accomplished stillwater friends. ‘What did you catch it on?’ “A maroon bugger’. Maroon, Burgundy, Claret no matter, the darn color does not work for me. I fish it like a bugger, not some bloodworm. Nothing. I always have a half dozen with me. Again, a proven color. Not for me.Why? Not sure. I have given it a fair try many times from B.C. to Oregon. Not one damn fish. Big, small, standard Bugger, or dubbed…the color fails me.  Can they see it? It moves and waves…it satisfies my impressionistic code. Impossible my friends say. You aren’t fishing it right. I fish it like I fish black, or green. Nada. Bizarre. It will remain in the box because sure as hell I will need it someday.   

Notice the above pattern for one detail, which no fish has thus far tested in this color, the reinforcing rib is wound up through the hackles to lend support to the palmered hackle should the fish teeth tatter the poor offering. No way in hell with claret….but of value in productive colors. 

Trout Vision may be the culprit…that gap in their vision. Maybe I do have to use a scent attractant?  

Wet Fly Pattern (Stella Mac Wet) & Bead to Hook sizing

Stella Mac Wet Fly~SwittersB (GM)

Stella Mac Wet Fly Recipe: Gray 6/0 to 8/0 thread; Size 10-18 Pupa Hook; Gold Bead to match hook size; fine black wire to match gray thread; UV Ice Dub; Starling hackle.

Put bead on hook. Attach thread at rear of shank and tie in wire ribbing. Wrap the gray thread back and forth on rear 2/3 of hook and build up a tapered abdomen. Leave thread at upper abs by future thorax area. Wrap wire ribbing from rear to front equally spacing wraps and making at least five turns of ribbing. Tie off ribbing. Dub a scraggly thorax that allows for some dubbing fibers to trail backwards. Tie in Starling hackle by butt or tip depending upon size of hook (above you can see I left tip of feather intact rather than cutting it off.

You can, of course, mix and match the colors of the thread body , wire ribbing, dubbing and bead color. The Starling hackle is alway a fine material for small wets. A simple Peacock thorax (less animated) could be substituted for the UV Ice Dub.  (See post 3/3/09 for similar flies)

BEAD TO HOOK SIZE:                                                          

1/16= Size 20,                                                                     
5/64= Size 18,
3/32= Size 16,
7/64= Size 14,
1/8= Size 12,
5/32= Size 10 & 8,
7/32= Size 6 & 4,
1/4=#2.

Formula 1/Indy’s Token Cuteness? (Hot But Fiercely Competitive)

Maybe it is a anomaly, perhaps not, but how can the 3 qualifiers of the female genre look so hot and have nerves of steel……they have thus far proven themselves…a credit to Lyn St. James.

Milka Duno

Danica Patrick

DANICA’S FANBASE

Sarah Fisher (Married And More Sensible)

Fly tying by ML Webb

Spinner-Cripple-Microtube-MLWebb

ML WEBB  FLY TYING 

Ribbit (Full of Flies)

Too Many Flies (http://media1.break.com/)

R….I…B…B…I…T

The Fly’s Brain (Experiments in Imaging to Save Your Life)

Drosophila melanogaster (Fruit Fly Scanned)

“Medical Research Council of UK is reporting that an innovative new imaging modality called optical projection tomography (OPT), when applied to Drosophila melanogaster, may reveal mechanisms responsible for a host of human neurodegenerative disorders, from Parkinson’s disease to Alzheimer’s dementia. The dark colour of the fly exoskeleton prevents us from seeing inside it using a standard light microscope. In the past this has meant scientists have had to tease apart fruit fly tissues by hand — a laborious process. Now, we have got over the problem by bleaching the fly exoskeleton. When the fruit fly becomes colourless it is possible to use imaging techniques not only to view its internal organs but to generate 2D and 3D images of the entire fly. ” (Will this be available under socialized medicine?)  

zebra ‘midge’ patterns at roughfisher (phantom like)

Jean Paul Lipton over at Roughfisher fishes for those other fish. And, he ties nice flies that are suitable for the pretty fish. Check out the patterns…nice nymphs.

'Midge Duo'~Jean Paul Lipton (Roughfisher.com)

 

Booby’s Down Deep (Stillwater Pattern)

Whatever..You Just Have to OK?

“The basic method of fishing the Booby is very simple. Use a fast sinking line, I find a shooting head best, no more than 500 cm (24″) of leader to the Booby and cast it out. Give the line plenty of time to sink and pull the fly down to the bottom. Even in only 2 or 3 metres of water this can take 30 seconds or more. If there is any current at all it will take longer. Once the fly has settled retrieve the fly in short, 10 to 20 cm (12″) tugs, pausing between each tug. The pause is important, the fly must be allowed to float back up, because tugging on the line pulls it down.”

Basic Booby Fly

A basic nymph, a moving tail and the boobs. Several different ways to affix the boobs.  

 A similar technique can be used with the Skip Morris pattern, The Predator. I have used this pattern in B.C. and it works great. Bottom line get fly down to bottom with sinking line, the fly rises and the retrieve begins. I wrote about this because I recently saw Brian Chan produce a Booby Fly from his stillwater box as an option on a B.C. lake. Some how I had only associated Booby’s with Great Britain stillwaters. There was Chan with a Booby Fly…good enough for me.  

Baetis (Small But Prolific)

Green Haven~SwittersB

A prolific little fly fishing staple that likes those weedy, riffly runs that are pleasant to fish and behold. The nymphs are generally smaller (from 16 down to those pesky 20′s). Slender swimmers that can get carried into the currents in a late morning drift provide the opportune time to dredge with a nymph set up (whether you like a two nymph combo or a single nymph) work the riffles. 

 

 

Baetidae (Moja Mala Entomološka Zbirka~Sebastian H.)

 

 

 

Baetis Nymphs~Thym (Fly Tying Forum)

Research you local streams for hatch info and local pattern favorites. The above patterns are obviously beautiful to any tyer. Also, a simpler Pheasant Tail Nymph would work. Smaller, slender (swimmer, not chunky) and medium to dark in color.      

Pheasant Tail Nymphs by SwittersB

 Fly Tying Instructions for PTN at Oregon Fly Fishing Blog . Planet Trout made a great suggesting, reminding me of the dark wingcase of the nymph…he uses black Krystal Flash for the wingcase and the legs..(see comments).

Blob Fish (Austrailian~Tasmanian Oddity)

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder…some, only a mother could love. The Blob Fish may have self esteem issues.

Bizarro Sea Creatures