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Basically a mutant version of the quintessential fresh water trout streamer fly the Woolly Bugger this fly has and articulated shank and a down bib that gives the fly plenty of movement.

One of my favourite prospecting flies taht can be fished on any type of fly line. It is slowly building a reputation of being a great prospecting fly in both fresh water impoundments and estuary fisheries.

Put in a good cast and work through a range of retrieves until you find what's working on the day.

My favourite colours are;
Blue and grey for duller days
Orange and shrimp for brighter days
Red and black for dusk and dawn

Building an articulated fly is basically a two part process with the first step being the tying of the trailing hook fly.

Materials for trailing hook

Process

A	Wind the thread in touching turns to the bend of the hook. It's optional but particularly if your fishing in less than clear water it's worth tying in a couple of stands of krystal flash below the marabou. If when your fishing the fly you decide there is too much flash it's very easy to remove this under-flash.

B	I build my marabou tail for these flies in three stages. The first stage is to tie in the under-tail. The target length of tail should be the same length as the length of the hook which in this case is 45mm.

E	The final part of the tail is tying in the over-tail which can now be positioned on top of the under-tail hiding some of the krystal flash and completing the tail.

F	Lock the over-tail in position with firm wraps of thread all the way to the bend of the hook. If there is any unevenness along the top of the hook shank tie a little scrap wool in to make the under-body even. Take the thread forward far enough to be able to tie in a length of gamechanger chenille..

G	Tie a length of gamechanger chenille and lock it in along the top of the hook shank all the way down to the bend of the hook.

The second part for building an articulated fly is to attach the articulated shank and to dress that to represent the thorax and head of the fly.

Materials for articulated head

I	Slide an articulated shank through the eye of the hook. Fish Skull shanks have an offset eye. Because you will be adding a flylipp below the shank make sure that when you slide the shank onto the hook that you position the offset eye so that the off set eye of the shank will be facing up.

J	Fix the rear of the articulated shank into the vice. You will see that I have looped an elastic band over the top of my vice 45 mm back behind the back of the hook so that the trailing hook does not get in the way.

K	Start behind the eye of the shank wind the thread, in tight turns to a little forward of the rear of the shank. I like to do a couple of half hitches as I proceed through this step just to be sure that the shank sides are locked together. To add some strength I also coat the thread with varnish during this step.

L	Tie in a length of palmer chenille along the of the shank all the way back to the rear eye of the shank taking care not to go so far back that you inhibit the movement of the trailing hook.

M	Wind the palmer chenille forward taking 6 tight touching turns. Tie the palmer chenille off.

N	With wet fingers stroke the palmer chenille back with your thumb and forefingers forming a skirt that disguises the join of the hook and the shank and lock that in with firm wraps of thread. Trim the excess palmer chenille away with a sharp blade. Rotate the fly 180 degrees and tie a flylipp in so that it is flat along the bottom of the shank and it leaves enough access to the upturned eye of the shank to be able to connect your shank eye to your leader when you fish this fly.

O	Lock the flylipp into that position by winding tight touching turns all the way back to the front of the skirt and then take the thread just a little forward on the shank.

P	Tie in a length of jelly chenille directly in front of the palmer chenille skirt.

Q	Turn the fly back upright. Wind the jelly chenille just two touching turns forward in tight touching turns. Tie the jelly chenille off and trim away the excess. Take the thread forward to part way between the FNF chenille and the eye of the shank.

R	Take a length of plastic bead chain and with the tips of your pliers squeeze of the second and third bead. Tie the bead chain eyes in half way between the FNF chenille and the eye of the shank.

S	Trim off the excess bead chain leaving just the two eyes. Now select two similar shaped hackles. What I look for is a majority of barbules on each hackle being around twice the gape of the hook in length. Tie the darker of the two hackles in directly in front of the two wraps of FNF chenille.

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