Match The Hatch: Wooly Bugger Jig

The wooly bugger jig is a lure I started tying because I couldnt think of a way to fish wooly buggers on a spinning rod for schooly striped bass. When I lived in Connecticut I found that so many people were throwing deceivers and clousers for stripers as a result I wanted to throw something different to see if I'd increase my bites.  So I started throwing large wooly buggers in the same color patterns as we were using on the clousers. That got me to thinking, "How the heck can I use this pattern with a spinning rod and reel?" Well that brought me to the idea of tying wooly buggers on jigs (apparently I wasn't the first person to have this idea).  The wooly bugger jig was a perfect solution since I could cast with no problems and fish pretty much anywhere in the water column depending on the weight of the jig.

Fishing for stripers with bugger jigs opened my eyes to the possibilities of what I could be doing with it. So from there it became one of my go to baits for smallmuoth and rock bass.  Eventually it became one of my go to steelhead jigs as well when a guy walked up to me one day and suggested me tying it in smaller sizes and in pink for steelhead. That suggestion gave me a new and great pattern for huron river steelhead.

What makes the wooly bugger jig a lure that I keep in my jig box is the fact that it gives me a couple of options in use. The first being that it works great jigging it along the bottom imitating a
multitude of forage species.  However it works just as well with an attached single spinner blade from a beetle spin and fish it high in the water column for schooling fish like white bass and schooling smallmouth.  In areas where there are high round gobie populations I tie bugger jigs in an olive and black color pattern and slow roll them along the bottom with a beetle spin blade.  This pattern nets me quite a few smallmouth feeding along the bottom on gobies.

The beetlespin blade also comes in handy when I'm fishing with wooly bugger jigs for white bass on the Detroit River.  In the case of white bass fishing I tie my bugger jigs in white, chartreuse or with a white body and chartreuse hackle wrap.  Simply by finding where the white bass are in the water column and buzzing the wooly bugger jig just above them you'll limit out in no time.

For panfish I just downsize the size of my wooly bugger jigs anywhere between 1\8 oz and 1\32 oz and fish them below a slip bobber.  In some cases when i know crappie and bluegill are huddling under docs I'll shoot docks with bugger jigs as well with great success.

For steelhead I tie bugger jigs in black, pinks and purples.  Probably the most successful patterns are pink on pink, purple on black and purple on pink in sizes ranging from 1\8 oz to 1\32 oz.  I'm not really sure why these colors are so successful but I don't hit the water without these patterns in my jig box.  When fishing for steelhead I tend to cast upstream and either dead drift the buggers back or jig them back depending on what the fish want.  In addition to those to methods I'll drift wooly bugger jigs through the wholes below a clear casting bubble which often will get me a few bites.


Materials:
Jig Heads: You can pick pretty much any jig head you want when tying wooly bugger jigs.  However i stick to only two types. I either used a plain collared ball head jig or an uncollared ball head jig. If you're tying for production or smaller sizes than 1\8 oz then the uncollared jigs will work best and give you the symmetrical and consistent wooly bugger jigs.

Body: Chenille is gonna be what you use for your body portion of the jig. It is the chenille that is

gonna give you the most color options and body options.  Don't be afraid to use the most outrages patterns of chenille for you bugger bodies as the fish may want something different that day.
Tail: The bugger jig tails are simply marabou and you match the marabou as best as you can to draw in any color differences between your body and hackle ribbing.

Rib: Your rib is gonna be hackle in whatever size that matches the size of your jig.   If you decided to use something other than hackle keep in mind that different materials behave differently in the water.  For example where hackle pulsates quite a bit with jigging motion schlappen tends to lay down as its a softer feather.

Flashabou is optional depending on if you want your jig to have any flash or not. I personally don't use much of it but it does make a huge difference in some cases.

How To Tie The Wooly Bugger Jig:

Match The Hatch: Bucktail Jigs

In my opinion the bucktail jig is the most underrated and under utilized bait in the fishing world.  It's an unfortunate fact that many of us see see a bucktail jig and categorize it as a bait that is strictly for cold water situations or a bait that's strictly for striped bass and fluke.

Well, we couldn't be further from the truth when it comes to bucktail jigs. They are probably the most versatile ever to be utilized by all fisherman.  The bucktail has been responsible for catching more fish in salt and freshwater than any other bait outside of live bait.  This is due to the fact that in the water this simple bait does an amazing job of imitating any bait fish you can think of. And as we all know all predatory fish eat just about any fish smaller than them.

With more and more people using bucktail jigs on youtube they're making a huge come back in the fishing world, going from a few fishermen secret weapon to being a weapon of choice for many anglers. 
In this blog post I wont go into tips and tactics for using bucktail jigs because I'll be doing 3 more post to cover the tips and tactics that'll catch you fish with a bucktail.  However this post is just a match the hatch post which will list some of the bait fish that bucktail jigs mimic.

Matching the Hatch: Below is a list of the forage species that Bucktail Jigs imitate.


Shiners: 

If you have freshwater then you have minnows and shiners.  In most cases, with the exception of Golden and rainbow shiners, shiners a silver sided snack for predators. So pretty much any color patter will work as long as its a light color.  So when tying up hair jigs to imitate shiners your main objective is to match the general size of he shiners you're seeing.  As well as have your colors tied up based on water clarity moreso than anything. 

My choice of colors for shiners are white, white and blue, white and chartreuse and white and pink.  But no matter what color I'm using with any silver sided bait fish i'm tying in flashabou to cause the jig to reflect and refract light like the scales of a bait fish.

Keep in mind that shiners a schooling fish so find the schools and work your bucktail jig in the same area of he water column just below the school.  Why just below? Because most predatory fish will work the schools of shiners from below. So if your jig is just at the bottom of the school then it's considered a straggler and an easy target for any predators lurking below. 

Shad:

Shad, like shiners, are silver sided meals on wheels for most predator fish.  Shad range in size from 1 inch all the way up to 20 inches depending on species and age. As a result you want to tie up bucktails ranging from 2 inches to 8 inches in length to match shad lengths.  In order to tie the larger sizes you'll have to use jig heads that have a longer profile like ultra minnow heads and banana head jigs.  As well you'll want to tie not just plain bucktail jigs to match larger shad but you'll want to tie preacher style bucktails and bunny bucktail jigs. 

As far as colors go you're pretty much using the same color patterns as you would for shiners.  As well the general schooling behaviors of shad are similar to shiners so you can fish your bucktails in the same way except for one notable exception.  When the water temperatures drop to 45 degrees some of the shad population have  a die off.  So you want to mimic the die off once the water temps get below 45 degrees. You do this with sharp hops off of the bottom to mimic struggling and dying shad. 



Sculpin, madtoms and gobies: 

When I'm fishing waters that have any of these three species of bait fish I go with bucktails that are either brown, olive, black, olive with a black top and yellow with a brown top. As all, sculpin, madtoms and gobies are all bottom dwelling bait fish I keep the hair jigs bouncing close to the bttom or swimming just above the bottom.  So no high hops as the these species will retreat to rock crevices when in danger so this is what you want to imitate.  

On average each of sculpins, gobies and madtoms range in length from 2 to 5 inches as a result you want to match that size. It's not hard to match these sizes with just bucktail jigs.  However for longer lengths and a change of action using bunny bucktails or preacher style bucktails will give you a better chance of matching. 

Often times areas that have sculpins, gobies and madtoms will also have rockbass.  In the case of imitating juvenile rock bass the same patterns will work. The only difference is you'll use a red eye instead of a dark colored eye. 


Bunker: 

Bunker also known as menhaden are striper and bluefish candy.  Where ever you find a school of bunker there is a very high likelihood you'll find striped bass and bluefish nearby. This is especially true with peanut bunker, juvenile bunker, because of the large schools they roam in.  It's not uncommon on the Long Island sound to come across a school of striper and bluefish blowing up on peanut bunker. For this reason when you're fishing for striper or bluefish you want to have bucktails somewhere in your tackle box. 

On average bunker grow to between 12 and 15 inches in length.  However when you're matching this forage species you're matching the juvenile bunkers size.  So 3 to 6 inches is the size you wnna go with


Sand Eels: 

Sand eels are another major forage source for striper, bluefish and fluke.  Pretty much the same patterns you'd use for matching bunker will work for matching sand eels.  However with sand eels you can add chartreuse, pink and black and purple to your bucktail stash as these colors work great when mimicking a sand eel hatch. 

These small fish are bottom dwellers that like sandy and small smooth gravel sea beds so keep this in mind when fishing with your bucktails. So swim them along the bottom or jig it with small hops rather than high jigging motions to imitate these bait fish. 



Squids

Cephalopods like squid are very common feed for large saltwater predators.  The sky is the limit when it comes to the colors of bucktails you wanna use to imitate squid. This is due to the fact that most cephalopods like squid are capable of changing colors in order to camouflage themselves or given their moods. 


In most cases squid will school just like bait fish which attracts the attention of predators. However this is with one major difference, their major habits and schooling takes place at night.  So be looking out for  a night time bite. As well due to the size of squid most squid patterned bucktails are heavy thus are used in vertical jigging techniques. 

When tying squid patterned bucktails you wanna use a hair stacker so the buck tail can be uniform and add a couple strands of long grizzly hackle to imitate the two longer grasping tentacles of squid. 


Octopus

Like squids, octopus are cephalopods that have the ability to change their color to adapt to their surroundings or show moods.  So when matching octopus patterns if you'll want ot match to the given species you have in your area.  However due to the ability to alter their pigments you can pretty much go with whatever colors that will give you the best suit your water quality.


One major thing you want to think about though when matching octopus is their behavior.  Octopus don't school and hunt like squid do. They are bottom dwellers so keep that jig skimming the bottom when imitating an octopus. Don't get me wrong octopus are great swimmers but their normal behavior is to sit near the bottom where they are safest and can find an easy meal. 


My hope is that you got a bit more understanding about fishing with bucktail jigs by understanding the forage that the jigs imitate.  Stay tuned for multiple follow ups to this post, going into more depth about the different species you can target with bucktail jigs. 

Thanks for reading and tight lines

Matching the Hatch: Wooly Bugger

Due to the simplicity and ease of use, the wooly bugger is probably the first fly every beginner learns to tie.    The wooly bugger is one of those flies that catches all fish, from bluegill to striped bass.  The bugger is also one of the most  versatile fly, for a variety of reasons.

Wooly buggers can be tied in a wide variety of sizes. I've tied them on hooks as small as #10 all the way up to 2/0 worm hooks.  Smaller sized buggers catch crappie and bluegill, while  larger ones are used for largemouth bass, smallmouth bass and trout.

Wooly buggers can be any color you choose. They can be vibrant and fun colors such as orange, pink, or yellow. They can also be typical colors such as brown, green, or black.  No matter the color choice, there will be a fish willing to bite. I tend to use black and yellow in ponds and lakes near me as it's common to find leeches that have yellow stripes in this area.  As well for crappie buggers in sizes 6 to 10 tied with pink /green, green / white and all white work great.  If you're looking to match cinderworms in salt water tie them as large as possible, jointed with a pink chenille body, pink hackle and a shiny black dubbed head. (when the cinder worm hatch is taking place you'll need very little weight as the striper and any other game fish will be gorging on cinderworms higher in the water column.)

Another unique thing about tying wooly buggers is the ability to weight each fly differently. For a uniform fall, you can use lead wire or lead tape wrapped around the hook shank (the amount of lead is based on the rate of fall you want). For a jigging type of action, you can use barbell eyes tied just behind the hook eye or you can  choose not to weight the wooly buggers and fish the bugger close to the surface. However, if you opt to fish the buggers weightless, make sure to dip the bait in water before casting because weightless wooly buggers won't break the surface film of water on the first cast. You can also use sink tip or full sinking fly line when fishing wooly buggers, so you can get the bait to the desired depth.


Depending on what forage species you're trying to copy, you can can add eyes to wooly buggers. Gluing on 3d eyes or doll eyes, then using epoxy to create a head is a great option for mimicking bait fish. Another good option, that doesn't require the know how and mess of epoxying on eyes, is to use a product like Fish-Skull fish masks to add eyes to buggers.You can also add eyes by tying in barbell eyes or bead chain eyes, as mentioned above.

Matching the Hatch: Below is a list of the forage species that wooly buggers imitate.

Sculpins / gobies
Photo Credit: Roughfish













Leeches
Photo Credit: Ispotnature












Crayfish
Photo Credit: Deapauw









Hellgrammites
Photo Credit: Whatsthatbug












Cinder Worms
Photo Credit: Capawock

Instructions:
1. Place hook in vice

2 Wrap the lead wire around the hook leaving room for the head and tail areas. (Remember the amount of lead you use determines the sink rate of the bait.)

3. Measure a piece of marabou for the tail, about the same length of the hook shank.

4. Tie in marabou down the hook shank so that the entire hook is covered with feathers. (Depending on if you're using bugger marabou or strung marabou you may the marabou may not tie up the entire hook.)

 5. Wrap thread back down the hook shank to the tie in point of the marabou.

6. Tie in chenille (3 or more inches based on hook size and the thickness of the chenille).

7. Tie in saddle hackle by its tip.

8. Tie in copper wire. (I did not use copper wire here)

9. Wrap thread to the hook eye.

10. Wrap chenille to the hook eye.
11. Using hackle pliers or hand wrap saddle hackle up the body
12. Wrap wire ribbing in the opposite direction of the hackle wraps around wiggling wire to weave it through hackle.

13. Wrap a head with thread and whip finish
14. Use a small amount of head cement to finish the head.  (Use the bodkin or a straightened paper clip to apply the head cement, making sure to get entire head of the fly has been saturated with the head cement.

Below is a youtube video that gives a clear tutorial of how to tie the wooly bugger fly.

Video Credit: Jim Misiura

Match The Hatch: It's Hopper Time

I woke up this morning with the intention of heading into the garden to pick some weeds and harvest a few veggies. But, once I got out back, I  realized it was hopper time. You know that time of the year when grasshoppers seem to be everywhere?  Hopper time is a gardeners worst nightmare and a fisherman's dream. For those who garden, it's the time when a plague of grasshoppers decide your plants are just as tasty as you hope they'll be. I have a love/hate relationship with this annual event.  I hate seeing the damage they do to my vegetables,but I love that by using a simple butterfly net and a cricket cage, I'm ready for a few weeks of great pan fish fishing.

Before we talk tips, let's understand how the hatch actually works.  Grasshoppers tend to hatch from the ground in late spring and early summer. So the season  usually gets good around the beginning of July and last through late September or longer depending on the temperatures. Born wingless nymphs, the hoppers feed on tender leaves and vegetation until they're ready to molt, which they'll do a few times as they grow to adult size. As an adult, they grow wings. This is when they are big enough to harvest for bait.

There are  two ways to catch grasshoppers.The first is to simply sneak up, grab them, and throw them into a bottle or bucket. But, I use a butterfly net. I brush the butterfly net across the tops of the grass and high standing garden plants. The hoppers will jump into the net in an attempt to escape. I move them promptly into a cricket cage for transport to the lake.

I use grasshoppers as pan fish bait. But, they are a versatile bait. Hoppers attract everything. I've caught bullhead catfish while fishing hoppers on the bottom as well as  bluegill, carp, trout, and large mouth bass while fishing hoppers on the surface.  I think this is because grasshoppers aren't particularly graceful when they land in the water and fish won't turn down such an easy meal.


Tips for fishing with grasshoppers:  
1. There are two simple ways of rigging grasshoppers. A. Hook the hopper just beneath the collar when fishing surface presentations.  B. When using subsurface presentations thread the hopper from head to tail.

2. Use light wire aberdeen hooks size #4 or #6 for rigging grasshoppers as the thinner hooks are easier to rig the hoppers with and the thinner wire doesn't damage hoppers as bad as thick wire hooks, thus keeping them alive longer.

3. Use light monofilament line when hopper fishing. This is true for live hoppers or imitations like Rebel's Crickhopper.  The monofilament floats which aids in keeping your hopper on the surface and 2 and 4lb test lines aid you in casting such light baits.

4. Cast your hoppers, imitation or real, close to shore where high weeds are abundant.  This is key as fish are used to seeing random hoppers landing in the water near high weeds.

5. Whether you're using hard hopper imitations like crickhoppers or fly fishing with foam or deer hair flies, present the baits with soft twitches or pops.With lures like the crickhopper popper, you'll be tempted to chug away at it like you would a minnow shaped bass popper to get the fish's attention.  But, if you've ever see a grasshopper fall in the water, it doesn't make huge splashes as it's trying to get out of the water so keep your popping short and literally popping.

Thanks for reading!

Matching the Hatch: Elk Hair Caddis

For years fly fishermen and women have had one motto or truism when it comes to picking which fly to use next and that is "Match The Hatch".  In other words match your fly to what the trout are eating.  I've been thinking of this fact and wondering what I can do to make this statement come to life.  So I decided to make a Match the Hatch series of blog posts, possibly once a month, highlighting different baits, not just flies, and matching them to the bait species they imitate.  This way we can learn both how to fish said baits matching them to their real counter parts.

So with that in mind here is the first "Match the Hatch" post.  I first heard about caddis flies in particular the winter caddis when I lived in Connecticut and decided to learn how to fly fish.  The first question I asked that winter after learning how to casts a fly rod was which baits should I learn to tie first.  Well, the person working at Orvis, also a fly fishing guide, said I should start with the elk hair caddis fly but make sure I tied it in the winter caddis colors as that is what they were currently catching trout on the Farmington River with.  Which to me made no sense whatsoever because it was very much into the winter and from what I understood no bugs would be hatching or flying about in the winter.  Well I was wrong, caddis flies do hatch in colder months.  So a quick grab of the materials and I was off tying some not very artistic looking elk hairs with the hopes of catching a fish or two that winter. 

Needless to say I didn't get lucky enough to catch a trout on those flies that winter.  However what I did learn was that just about every fish in streams, ponds and lakes will gorge themselves on caddis flies during an evening hatch.  As that following spring I got lucky and experienced a hatch while casting wooly buggers for trout in a local lake.  So with a quick switch of baits I was landing way too many bluegill a couple of small bass and yes my first trout on an elk hair caddis, only on the tan color not the winter caddis pattern.  From that point forward I've always kept them in my fly box whenever I'm out fishing, which this year turned out to be another forgotten treasure as I learned pretty quickly that here in Michigan when the flying ants begin to hatch the elk hair makes a great imitation for them as well.

The materials needed to tie the elk hair caddis are:

• Sizes #12 - #18  dry fly hooks  (Mustad R50-94840)
• Elk Hair
• Saddle Hackle in brown, grizzly or black
• 6/0 Tying Thread
• Super fine copper wire for ribbing
• Dubbing your choice of color

The overall pattern is very easy to tie so it's perfect for someone learning, as we all are.  Below are  few videos with great examples and variations on this essential fly.