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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 chain eyes called a Dog Nobler. Whatever the name it's a very good fly. It's also very versatile because the body can be made from a range of materials such as chenille, wool, dubbing, peacock herl, Estaz chenille etc. and eyes in various shapes and forms including dumb bell eyes, lead shot, bead heads, jiggy heads etc. can be added for appearance and weight.

Of all the woolly buggers and woolly bugger variants that I have tied and used this would have to be my favourite. I have absolute confidence in this fly and it's my default point fly in fly fishing competitions. That of course doesn't mean that I don't fish other woolly buggers or woolly bugger variations with specific applications in particular fisheries but it does mean that if the buggers that should work (eg a Magoo in Purrumbete or a Tassi bugger in Arthurs Lake) are not working on a particular day I will always give my brown bugger a swim, either on the point or as my bob fly, it's surprising how often it comes up trumps.

My brown woolly bugger can be fish in all sorts of fisheries, on all sorts of fly lines, at all sorts of depths and using all sorts of retrieves dead drift through to “rolly poly” to see what's working on the day.

Here is a range of woolly buggers and variants.

Materials

Hook	Thread	Weight	Tail	Under-body	Rib	Body	Hackle
Size 6 to 10 Knapek L or Jig,Tiemco 3769 or similar medium shank hooks with wide gapes	Brown 6/0 Uni thread	0.015 or 0.010 mm lead wire	Brown Marabou	Butt ends of the marabou and if necessary dubbing or wool	Copper wire	Peacock herl	Grizzly hackle died brown

Process

A	Starting at the 95% position wind the thread, in touching turns, half way down the hook shank. Understanding hooks Tie in a length of lead wire on top of the hook shank between the 50% and 80% position. For a size #8 fly take 5 turns of 0.015 mm lead wire and for a size 10# take 5 turns of 0.010 mm lead 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 around 1.5 times the length of the hook shank. If the marabou is long enough use the butt tends to build up an under-body finishing at the 90% position along the top of the hook shank. If the marabou is not long enough you may need to use a little dubbing or wool to complete that under-body. The tail is similarr toa normal woolly bugger tail but for this fly I leave out the sparkle flash. Woolly bugger tails Tie in a length of copper wire along the top of the hook shank to the bend of the hook.

 

C	Tie in a few peacock herl along the top of the hook shank between the bend of the hook and the 80% position. I generally use only 3 or 4 herl for most flies but the number used does depend on the quality of the herl.

 

D	Form the peacock herl and the thread into a rope and wind the rope forward to the 90% position. Roping peacock herl Tie the herl off with a couple of firm wraps of thread.

 

E	Trim away the excess peacock herl. Prepare a woolly bugger hackle by stripping away the barbules where it will be tied in. Tie in the prepared woolly bugger hackle between the 95% position and the eye of the hook with the shiny side forward. Woolly bugger hackles Wet fly – hackles

 

F	Take 2 or 3 turns of the hackle directly behind the eye of the hook and then Palmer the hackle back along the hook shank. This involves winding the hackle down the hook shank to the bend of the hook taking 3 or 4 wraps of the hackle that are equally separated from each other. Whilst holding the hackle in place at the bend of the with your left hand pick up the copper wire with your right hand and wind the copper wire forward to the eye of the hook taking 3 or 4 wraps of the wire that are equally separated from each other.

 

G	Take a final wrap of wire behind the eye of the hook amongst the first 2 or 3 wraps of the hackle and then whilst holding the hook firm with your left hand worry the excess copper wire off.

 

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. Neat thread heads

 

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