Whats up with little buggers?

[mike_richardson]

I have been getting more and more orders for size 10-12 buggers. Mainly in black. Are these really deadly on trout. I typically run size 8 or 6 buggers, but then again I an a pellet punisher mostly. I am assuming these guys are mostly native trout fisherman. Did I miss the boat on using smaller buggers for stocked trout?

My questions for you guys are:

Do you guys like smaller or larger buggers?

Do you like your buggers weighted?

Do you like buggers with cone/beadhead and eyes?

 

[Phish_On]

Smaller buggers for wild/smaller streams

Always weighted

Cone or beadhead no eyes

I typically use 10-12 buggers, but will go up to 6-8 for stockers or bigger fish

 

[csoult]

Phish_On wrote:
Smaller buggers for wild/smaller streams

Always weighted

Cone or beadhead no eyes

I typically use 10-12 buggers, but will go up to 6-8 for stockers or bigger fish

Yep!

 

[zfisher]

I tend to use smaller buggers kind of like nymphs in riffles. I use the larger ones in bigger pools.

I prefer weighted always with a bead or conehead.
The rare occasion I fish wild streams I tend to not use a bead head and minimal weight.

 

[mike_richardson]

Thanks Phish. That was my best guess. The customer did not want them weighted. Might be tough if he is fishing riffles to get it down.

 

[midnightangler]

If I'm going to fish a bugger on a stream with wild brown trout it will never be smaller than a size 6. If I was going to fish them on a wild brookie stream, I'd consider the smaller sizes. I don't usually do that, however.

I usually weight them with a tungsten cone or lead barbell eyes, sometimes with a brass cone and lead weight or a beadhead. I don't think this has any effect whatsoever on how the fish perceive them.

 

[Swattie87]

+1 to pretty much everything Phish said.

I tend to like smaller Buggers (sz 10-12) even for stockies, but for Natives or smaller (usually freestone) wild Browns my go to subsurface fly is a size 14 BH Bugger, usually black and heavily weighted. For Brookies in Winter my favorite technique is just dead drifting these in the pools.

 

[trout624]

I basically stick to size 6-8 tungsten bead head buggers. Count me for big buggers, but I'll sometimes tie a 10-12 with no weight for smaller waters.

 

[Chaz]

Large buggers for all streams, I'm looking for fish that aren't dinks when I fish small streams. small flies catch small fish. # 8 or larger.

 

[CLSports]

I was thinking of using a small size 10 or 12 brown bugger dead drifted during a ISO hatch last year on Penns. I thought that would add more movement to the fly to look more like the naturals than the ISO nymphs I had. I thought of this after I left the stream though. Next time.

 

[PennypackFlyer]

I'm with you Chaz on that one. Larger flies/nymphs do seam to attract bigger fish - less bites to some point. Also good when water is stained.

 

[IdratherbePhishing]

+1 on phish and swattie on Brookies streams I use 14 and even 16. When your catching these little fish if your using 10-12 sometimes you'll hook the fish right in the eye. So I always use smaller for safety and care of the fish. But any big streams ill use bigger like size 10.

 

[csoult]

IdratherbePhishing wrote:
if your using 10-12 sometimes you'll hook the fish right in the eye.

Done that before.

 

[Swattie87]

Another thing to remember...proportionally speaking a size 14 Bugger to a 7 or 8 inch Brookie is about the same relative size as a size 8 Bugger to a 15 or 16 inch Brown.

Sure, if there's some bigger fish there to target in the stream you're fishing, go bigger. But most Brookie streams have fish that top out at 8 or 9 inches, with most fish of catchable size in the stream running 4-7 inches. When going subsurface on these streams I think a smaller Bugger makes sense. An 8 inch Brookie would be very hard to hook on a size 6 or 8 Bugger, especially if you only get one shot...not that they won't try to eat it though.

 

[WildTigerTrout]

For small streams I tie buggers in 10,12 and even 14. I also tie streamers in the same small sizes. They cast very well with the smaller rods I employ there and most important they catch trout. I do like small coneheads on the buggers.

 

[Brownie101]

It think for small to medium size wild trout streams a size 10 bugger with a beadhead is perfect.

 

[Chaz]

One of the reasons people don't catch larger brook trout is because they don't use big flies, all brookies I've caught over about 9 inches have been on flies that imitate other fish. That's why Don's big Sculpin pattern works so well for big brookies.
There are larger brookies in a lot more places then you guys think.
All my buggers are weighted.

 

[greenghost]

On hard fished streams, I sometimes go down to micro-buggers tied on size 16 and 18. When you are sight fishing for stockies that get hammered with buggers from 6 to 12 on an hourly basis -- like in pre-season Neshannock -- ultra-small can turn them into takers instead of lookers.

 

[Phish_On]

Chaz- false, I have caught plenty of big brookies on size 10 or smaller. Big flies an big imitation flies don't always mean big fish. Don't care what you say.

 

[midnightangler]

There are always going to be guys who don't believe the big flies for big fish theory. Those guys will never commit to throwing big flies no matter what.

It's probably for the best; fishing big flies will ruin you. You'll see fish you didn't think existed, and life will no longer satisfy you.