ok i have caught a few fish on woolys but i hear alot of guys saying thats there go to an only fly. an two guys came to my shop today an they told me they only use black an olive beadhead woolys......... am i fishing them wrong ? or is there a certain technique to make them catch more fish ? i have caught fish with them but not like so many others have to swear by them. i keep a few in my boxes but what is the trick or tricks ? i think i need wooly help.

In a stream or river, I usually cast across the stream and let it swing downstream with the current, stripping in enough line to remove any slack.

moving water i do mostly what the above poster said. in still water and on the coast i pop them along the bottom varying strips until i find a pattern that works.

Woolly buggers are most often fished as imitations of baitfish, crayfish or leeches, down deep with strips. I have also caught fish on them fished dead drift under a strike indicator. For a very complete and thorough write up on them, find Gary Soucie's book Woolly Wisdom: How to Tie and Fish Woolly Worms, Woolly Buggers and Their Fish Catching Kin.

If I could only have 1 fly forever.... Olive woolly... In warm season, I find shorter faster strips seem to entice almost anything. In colder months, I try longer slower strips. Often, as jonesy said, I change it around until I get results in a pattern.

thanks guys i play with it just about like yall do but maybe i need to fish them more an see what it takes .... or what takes it lol

Wooly Bugger will catch anything that swims. In warm water, I start with "fingering" it in--just inching it along the bottom. The various small sunfish varieties can't resist it. LMB tend to like it stripped with about 4-6 inch strips. In streams, I want it to roll along the bottom. I prefer purple. I can't count the number of fish I've caught on a purple wooly bugger.

Throw it, strip it, change your retrieve..... Think like a bait fish or a leach