Fishing Forum

Hey, this may sound like a goofy question, but I am serious.
First a little background. I am a fairly new fisherman targeting mostly trout, but since they have brought bass into almost every fishery in Washington state, sometimes the trout are scarce and I will try for bass and gills. There is one area I go just for perch, but never get any over 6-7 inches.
I go to Sportsman's Warehouse maybe once a week and shop around. The salesmen there are quick with advice and tips and once in a while talk me into something I have never tried. It has never panned out for me. The 4" lizard on a jig head...just flip it into any rocks on the Columbia and you will catch smallmouth bass like crazy...did not work. Just take this jig with a black/chartreuse skirt and work it slowly on the bottom of the lake and those bass are going to come and get it...they did not. What you need is a Roboworm Texas rigged out there at Lacamas Lake and you will be into the big ones...I was not.
Then this one old boy told me how to rig a Wooly Bugger. With a clear bobber half-full of water and the WB on a 36" leader. He said retrieve it very slowly. I went to a spot on Lacamas Lake where the creek comes into the lake where there was a small water fall a few weeks ago when the water was down about three feet. The fall is under the water now, but I thought it would be a good place to try. On the third cast I got my first hit on a moving lure ever and it was exciting. I pulled in a nice 12" brown trout and he was tasty that night for my dinner.

The question I have is this. Now that I have used my WB it does not go back to the "shape" it was before.
Does this matter?
How do I get it to fluff-up again.
It looks like one of those tiny little fluffy dogs when they get wet.
I had read on another forum not to squeeze the water out of a fly as this will damage it.
I tried blowing on one of the WB and this helped a might, but it is just not the same.

Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks,

Lewis
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[black][size 3]If you put it back in water, you will find that it looks just as it did the first time it was wet.[/size][/black]
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[size 3]How it appears out of water, doesn't really matter to the fish.[/size]
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Saberfish is right in the appearance.

That particular type of fly is meant to get wet and sink. It is made with Maribou feathers and they do not repel water very well.

Congrats on the nice Brown.

As far as getting the other items to work, it takes time and patience. Presentation means alot too. 100 different anglers can throw out the same lure in 100 different ways. Only a percentage will get bit and it will be based on the presentation.

Good luck, thanks for the nice report and please feel free to ask any questions that you have.[cool]
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Thank you, tubeN2 for the encouragement. I will keep trying the other lures to catch fish. I never thought about it that way, but it reminds me of when my little girl asked me to teach her to whistle with her fingers and I showed her how I do it and told her to keep moving her fingers around until it makes a whistling sound. So I guess I will keep doing it until I get a fish and try to remember how I did it! LOL
Here is, I hope, a picture of my brown.[img]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/LEWISS%7E1/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg[/img]..

I tried all kinds of things I know to attach the image to this, but I guess it is smarter than me. I did create a Fishing Picture Gallery and tried to link that. Oh, well I guess if you have seen one brown trout you have seen them all.
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[black][size 3]I should have mentioned, that if you want a fly to look like it did when it was new, you should treat it like a dry fly that has been used, and needs a refresh.[/size][/black]
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[size 3]Put a pan of water on the stove, bring it to a boil, place flies in a strainer over the water, letting the steam get to them. It helps to flip the flies around in the strainer during steaming, and after while they cool. [/size]
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[size 3]This little process will clean and refresh the hackle, making the flies look and behave like new.[/size]
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[font "Poor Richard"][green][size 3][cool]Too often tiers want their flies to have that perfect look. After one cast the suckers look like a drowned rat. But hey I have yet to see any fish carrying a sign that says "Oh yea that was a 9 or a 10."
BTW does anyone know if fish are color blind? Well I
will answer my own question. To make a long story short, yes some fish see in color. It is the shallow water fish species that see the greatest range of color because it is only at shallower depths that the entire range of visible color wavelengths are not yet absorbed by the water. [/size][/green][/font]
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Thanks for the advise. I do not think I will steam the buggers, but it is good to know I do not have to worry about how they look above the water.
I like your avatar. My daughter (13 yo) was telling me her current art assignment was that the whole class will take the "American Gothic" and change it up in some way, I of course thought of you. She is building a city scene behind them and changing the girl to a boy and the boy to a girl. I told her it was a mixed-up muddled-up crazy old world, just ask Lola...she did not get it. LOL
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