{{+1}}Mini woolly buggers{{-1}}

In recent years I have found that other than the traditional woolly bugger of around 50 mm in length there is also a demand for very small woolly buggers. In fact I would go as far as to say that in most of the fisheries that I haunt 'mini woolly buggers' of from 25 mm to 30 mm in length are often more effective than the larger versions on which they are based.

You can tie them in a infinite range of colours from a wide range of materials. I'm very aware that 'flies catch more fly fishers than fish' and have narrowed down my mini woolly bugger selection to just brown black and olive versions.

Mini woolly buggers are a great polaroiding fly and also a effective point or bob fly when loch style fishing a team of flies.

My favourite woolly buggers

Brown mini woolly bugger

Brown tail, copper or red wire rib, peacock herl body, and brown partridge feather.

Black mini woolly bugger

Black tail, silver wire rib, peacock herl body, and crow feather.

Olive mini woolly bugger

Dark olive tail, copper or red wire rib, peacock herl body, and partridge feather.

Materials

Hook	Thread	Tail	Rib	Body	Hackle
Hook choice is important and my preferred hooks are size #8 and #10 Knapek L series hooks or Hanak 260 BL hooks. The Knapek L series is in my view the best choice in smaller sizes as they have a slightly longer shank in relation to the gape of the hook and they sport a much bigger eye making the finished fly so much easier to tie on.	Black for all three colours	Marabou (no flash)	Copper, red or silver wire	Dubbing 25% black peacock dubbing and 75% seals fur	Soft hack from the neck of an appropriately coloured bird

Dubbing	You will notice as you tie this fly that I don't add any flash to the marabou tail. Through experience I have found that in these small flies that the traditional flash in the 'woolly bugger' type tail tends to put more fish off than it attracts. Woolly bugger type tails As an alternative I do however add a little flash in the body of the fly in the form of Peacock dubbing which I include as 25% of my dubbing mixture. The other 75% is brown, black or olive seals fur. By just adding this little bit of peacock dubbing in the fly its surprising how alive the body can look and the colours that body pick up as the fly is retrieved.

Hackle	The actual form of the hackle is very important and what I look for in this fly is a front hackle that has barbules long enough to partially hide the bite of the hook and don't have a stem that is so thick that it bulks out the head of the fly when wound the hook shank just behind the eye of the hook. The barbules must also be fine and not too webby so that they move in the water. You can find hackles that suit these flies from a wide range of birds and whilst it's very sad that so many birds are hit by cars on our roads it's always worth carrying a plastic bag in your car just in case you come across such a tragedy. Pluck out the feathers that you need and move the body of the bird well away from the road so that it wont attract scavenging wild life onto the road also putting them in jeopardy. In recent times I have added to my collection of hackles for my mini woolly buggers by collecting small chest, neck and back feathers from crows, swamp hens of various colours, a couple of parrots and even a falcon which provided fantastic brown feathers. There are of course commercial feather such as partridge, guinea and pheasant available that are also well suited to this type of fly.

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 95% position.

D	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.

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

F	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. Tie the feather off and trim the butt with a blade rather than scissors.

G	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.