{{start}}

My first fish on fly fell to the magic of a Woolly Bugger and many have gone the same way since then. With its origins in America where it appears to be tied, as a Leach imitation there is also an English version with bead chin eyes called a Dog Nobler. Whatever the name it’s a very good fly. Its also very versatile because the body can be made from a range of materials such as chenille, wool, dubbing, peacock herl, Crystal chenille etc. and eyes in various shapes and forms can be added for appearance and weight.

In Australia it’s probable that fish take it as a Yabby, small fish, Mudeye or even a Leech depending on the colours of the dressing and the way its fished. The Woolly Bugger is also a good pattern for soliciting an aggression strike. The Woolly Bugger is often best when fished with short sharp twitching movements in order to make the marabou and hackle ‘work’ but its worth experimenting with a range of retrieves from dead drift through to “roly poly” to see what’s working on the day.

This woolly bugger version is one of my favourite late season still water flies.

When tying the bead head version the only difference to the following recipe is to swap over to the slightly longer Tiemco 3761 hook and adding the 3 mm silver, gold or black  bead head first.

Materials

Process

A	Wind the thread half way down the hook shank. Understanding hooks For a size #8 hook tie in a length of .015 mm lead wire at the half way mark and take four 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 and a couple of strands of Krystal flash. Woolly bugger tails

C	Tie in a length of wire at the bend of the hook. Tie in a length of Crystal chenille at the bend of the hook. Build up a cigar shaped under-body of dubbing between the bend of the hook and the 95% position.

D	Wind the Crystal chenille forward to the 95% position in touching turns. Tie the hackle in at the 95% position with the shiny side facing you. Woolly bugger hackles

E	Take two or three turns of the hackle directly behind the eye of the hook and then Palmer the hackle down the hook shank to the bend of the hook taking only three or four wraps of the hackle that are equally separated from each other. Palmering hackles Whilst holding the hackle in place at the bend of the with your left hand pick up the wire with your right hand and wind the wire forward to the 95% position taking three or four wraps of the wire that lock are equally separated from each other but serve the dual role of locking the body hackle into place. Take two full wraps of wire through the two or three wraps of hackle behind the eye of the hook and then worry the excess wire off. Body segments on flies

F	Trim the excess body hackle at the bend of the hook with a blade. 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.

{{end}}