Woolly Buggers and the Delta

[JerryInLodi]

From some of my earlier postings, some of you know that I've been looking for a sub-surface fly as effective as a popper for delta bass. I was trying to refine a spin-off on a zonker pattern, something of a super flashtail zonker with lead eyes to produce a jigging action. While I had some success with the fly, they've never produced like I hoped.

Well Saturday I went fishing with my brother-in-law. He's basically a hunter that fly fishes when he's not hunting. He got tired of casting a popper ( he had an injured shoulder) and switched to a relatively small black and red woolly bugger, something normally used for trout. He started nailing fish, catching two, maybe even three to one compared to my popper. Because his fly was so small, he was even catching LMBs that were barely three inches long!

I went out today armed with some LMB size, 4 inch chartreuse woolly buggers and my poppers. Again, the woolly bugger produced at twice the rate of the popper and the fish were bigger! Now today the wind was howling and coming from farther north than usual. Decent popper water was hard to find so it wasn't really a fair comparison but worth thinking about.

I really enjoy popping for bass but think that the large woolly buggers have a place in the delta fly box. For one thing, it seems that you can extend the fishing day, since the fly seems to produce later into the morning and it's definitely easier to cast when the wind's blowing.

The fly should be tied with NO weight and fished on a #2 sink tip with a series of short jerky strips and some pauses thrown in. Fish the troughs between weeds and rip-wrap and alleys in the weeds. Just like a popper, pause before roll casting to start your next cast.

I also found that you can get hits by holding your rod tip high and skating the fly across or just under the surface like a spinner bait.

As far as weeds, the fly is tied on a thin wire hook with no weed guard and the hook seems to slice through most of the weeds encountered. If not, a quick jerk out of the water will usually clear it. Unfortunately, when thrown into the tules you'd better find clear water. You can pull through the elodea but not the reeds!

[lee s.]

Used to fish Khalotus L. in Wa. state. LOADED with small LM's. It was not unusual to pester upwards of 75 fish an evening, completely wearing out a dahlberg type bug.
Many evenings were top-water extrodinaire (sp) with fish completely leaving the water to pounce on the bugs. However MANY evenings produced much better with a waking (just barely under the water) bug. The fish seemed very reluctant to expose their noses to the air some nights. It was as little difference in bugs as having a bunny tail on both with a hackle head on one and a deer body head on the other.
As with most fish, if you want #'s.....keep'em wet and for some of us, our most fun is to......dry'em a bit before hooking'em.
Trying to clear a w/e or two for a couple delta forays soon.....GRAND fishery. One of the VERY BEST public top-water (or any water) LM fisheries available.
KD even SAYS there are big fish available!!! :P Congrats KD on your big'un.
.....lee s.

[Rickey Noel Mitchell]

why not try Deceivers in various sizes , weights and colors.

[lee s.]

Hey Ricky...... It IS our fav baitfish tye.....top-water or sunk...white/white w/ flash....1.2" thru about 12"....targeting MOST everything we fish for. GRAND bug!!!!
....lee s.

[Rickey Noel Mitchell]

Hey Lee, how have you been .Been A while. How's Dina?
These days any time I cast a Deceiver it's got a spinner blade to it'

[JerryInLodi]

Wednesday: The wind was almost non existent and there was even a little fog on the water early in the morning. It was low tide and the water was like glass. I worked the north end of Frank's Tract with a variety of poppers, both foam and hair. for an hour and a half with minimal results. I decided to get out my woolly buggers and give them a chance. I immediately started catching fish. I worked the tract south to Sandmound Slough, quitting about 3PM.

I caught a total of about 50 fish, 45 of them on either chartreuse or olive woolly buggers, the three biggest a 3.5, 2.5 and 2 pounders. Even with the big 4 inch woolly bugger I caught many small fish, some the same size as the fly.

Also caught the first striper of the season, a fish of about 4 inches.

You can bet with the number of small bass that the stripers will be nosing into the weeds when they return about a month from now. I'll be sure to have some clousers with colors to match those small bass in my box!

[jbird]

Jerry

That is a great report! Thats interesting they are taking a huge wooly bugger. I cant imagine a bugger that big, What hook are you tying them on? And, are they traditionally tied?...marabou, chennile, saddle hackle?? Are you using any weight at all?....flash??

thanks

Jay

[JerryInLodi]

Jay, if you remember, I was experimenting with zonkers with heavily weighted eyes. They didn't work that well. My brother-in-law went out with me and used a black and red trout sized woolly bugger and really outfished me that day.

I went home and tied some bass sized buggers on 3xlong #2 hooks. I'd really like an even bigger hook as far as the gap is concerned (the length is fine) and would like it in light wire for penetration and to cut through the weeds but haven't been to the fly shop to see what I can find.

The flies are fairly traditional, maribou tails with some flashabou. I tied the maribou three quarters of the way up the hook to thicken the shank and then wound back, tied in some streamer hackle (two strands) and then instead of regular chenille, used mylar chenille, wound it to the eye and then palmered the hackle up to the eye and finished the fly off. I didn't bother with wire since the hackle was pretty stiff and strong. I tied the flies both with eyes and without eyes. The flies without eyes seem to outfish the weighted flies dramatically, a lack of "jigging" action. Something I thought I wanted but the fish don't seem to feel the way I do.

The flies are not tied weedless. It seems that with the thin wire hook that I can pull through most of the weeds and the fly will clear itself, cutting the weeds. If not, a quick jerk will usually clear it.

I fished it on a type II sink tip but since I'm fishing the rip wrap and the water gets deep quickly think I'll go to a type IV head on the sink tip. The full line and mending really helps. What's surprising is the number of fish I'm picking up out some distance from the weed edge. All three of the biggest fish were stuck away from the weed edge, something between six and eight feet away. Many fish are hooked at the end of a long pause. When the I start stripping again, the fish is just, "there."

I think the weed cover extends beyond the visible edge and these big hogs sit in this area (I can feel my fly dragging through weeds well away from the visible edge) since because of their size they are less likely to end up in a striper's belly and can prey on a larger variety of smaller creatures, crayfish, sunfish, small stripers, small bass, etc.

What was interesting was that the bite was consistent all day long and never seemed to diminish in the least. I did pass through areas where there seemed to be no fish and then I would find pockets of willing fish and at one time caught a fish on three successive casts.

Lots more work to do to come up with an alternative to frustration on those days when the fish seem to shut down to top water. I'm also interested to see what will happen when water temperatures drop in the fall.

[jbird]

I went home and tied some bass sized buggers on 3xlong #2 hooks. I'd really like an even bigger hook as far as the gap is concerned (the length is fine) and would like it in light wire for penetration and to cut through the weeds but haven't been to the fly shop to see what I can find.

Jerry

I think the #2 tiemco bass hook is exactly what your looking for. I'm not sure the number of the hook but I think it may be tiemcos only product they actually call a "bass hook" It is a thin wire with a huge gap. Like the equivilant of a 2/0 or 3/0. Its what Ive been using for bass.

Thanks for all the details on the fly. Thats interesting the unweighted outfished the weighted. Tho I find that to be true with trout in stillwater, fishing unweighted buggers on a lake line. I'm gonna have to tie a couple of your buggers up for my local bass.

Thanks

Jay

[JerryInLodi]

Jay, look at this URL

http://www.traditionalangler.com/Hoo...co_BassBug.asp