There are a few flies that I have absolute confidence in and consequently have no hesitation in tying them on if I am in unknown territory and am up for a bit of prospecting. This fly is really a merging of two of them and it is so consistent that its has earned its own place amongst my top 10 or so trout flies. The two flies that were merged to form this fly were of course the bibio and the standard black woolly  bugger. Whilst the bibio still holds its own place in my top 10 or so trout flies this bibio bugger has displaced the standard black woolly bugger.

I use this fly as a point fly for when both boat and bank fishing and have developed three versions.  The standard non bead head version is tied on Knapek L series hook in size #8 and has 6 wraps of .015 lead wire hidden in the body and an overall finished length of around 45 mm. A mini bugger version is tied on Knapek L series hook in size #10 and has 4 wraps of .015 lead wire hidden in the body and an overall finished length of around 30 mm. I also tie a bead head version on a Tiemco 3769 hook in size #8 which incorporates a 3 mm black tungsten bead.

When tying the bead head version the only difference to the following recipe is adding the 3 mm black bead head first.

Whilst not tied to imitate any natural food source it’s a very buggy looking fly with heaps of trigger points including the marabou tail, fuzzeled body, the soft front hackle as well a blood red section at the front of the body which with the fuzzeling appears to bleed out from around the head of the fly.

Materials for bibio bugger

Process

A	Wind the thread half way down the hook shank. Understanding hooks Tie in a length of .015 mm lead wire at the half way mark and take three wraps of the wire forward of that position. Worry off the excess wire. Adding weight to a fly Continue winding the thread in touching turns to the bend of the hook.

B	Tie in a marabou tail 1.5 to 2 times the length of the hook. Tie in a length of wire at the bend of the hook.

C	Build up a cigar shaped body from the bend of the hook to the 3/4 position.

D	Continue the cigar shaped body forward with red seals fur dubbing to the 95% position.

E	Wind the wire forward forming 4 or 5 segment on the body of the fly. Body segments on flies Take one extra wrap of the wire behind the eye of the hook and then worry off the excess wire. Using a section of Velcro tease out dubbing fibres evenly around the body of the fly. This is a great alternative to Palmering a hackle down the body of many flies.

F	Tie in a hackle, by the tip, directly behind the eye of the hook. Woolly bugger hackles

G	Trim off the tip of the feather where it is tied in. Take two or three turns of the feather in the gap you left between the body and the eye of the hook. Two is generally plenty. Tie the feather off and trim the butt with a blade rather than scissors.

H	Stroke the front hackle back with the fingers of your left hand and build up a neat thread head directly behind the eye of the hook. Whip finish and varnish the head. The overall length of these mini bugger should only be between 25 and 30 mm.