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Fly Tier's Bench: Imitative Woolly Buggers

Woolly Bugger variations that imitate food sources.

Fly Tier's Bench: Imitative Woolly Buggers
Blessing created the Woolly Bugger more than 30 years ago, but it remains as effective today as the first time it entered the water. Though the original recipe didn't include weight, adding a lead-wire underbody or bead head helps the pattern get down to the fish. (Jack Hanrahan photo)

When Russ Blessing of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, decided to build a better hellgrammite (dobsonfly larvae) pattern in 1967, he had no idea the result would become one of the world's most popular wet flies.

Blessing's first designs included a variegated chenille abdomen, dubbed muskrat thorax, and trimmed black hackle. They worked well on local streams, but he wanted to add movement to his pattern. Inspired by the Blossom, a Mark Sosin pattern with a marabou tail and chenille body, Blessing tied in a black marabou tail followed by a webby black hackle tied in by the tip at the rear of the fly. He then palmered the hackle in close turns over an olive chenille body up to the eye. At first he planned to trim the hackle, but seeing the fly in the water changed his mind. Flash was later added in the tail by an unknown tier, although Eric Leiser in The Book of Fly Patterns (Knopf, 1987) suggests it might have been his friend Angus Cameron.

Woolly Bugger Recipe By Russ Blessing

A black and olive Woolly Bugger in a vise.
The original Woolly Bugger. (David J. Siegfried photo)
  • HOOK: #6 Mustad 79580.
  • THREAD: Black 6/0. TAIL: Black marabou.
  • HACKLE: Webby black saddle hackle tied in by the tip and palmered closely over the body.
  • BODY: Olive chenille.

A few years later, the Woolly Bugger caught Barry Beck's attention. "We were fishing opposite sides of the Little Lehigh one morning," Blessing says. "Barry mentioned that I was catching trout when no one else was and asked about the fly." Beck later fished the pattern with great success and promoted it wherever he went. He introduced the pattern to a worldwide audience in a Fly Fisherman article "The Woolly Bugger" (May, 1984). Since then, its variations have become legion. Beyond color changes, tiers have added lead wraps, beads and cones to make it sink, foam eyes to make it float, brightly­ colored butts to draw strikes; substituted a variety of synthetic materials for the body and hackle; and tied in short marabou wings to generate more movement.

Like many others, I fished a #6, black­-and-olive Woolly Bugger successfully in stillwaters and rivers for many years because it was buggy looking. While researching material for a new book, I came across some information that may explain why fish in stillwaters are attracted to this pattern. The larvae of predacious diving beetles, unlike many stillwater inhabitants, are large critters–as long as two and a half inches at maturity. They have slim, elongated bodies and in some cases, multiple appendages. Analyses of trout stomachs by biologists have revealed that they eat beetles frequently, particularly in the early season.

Aside from the original Russ Blessing pattern, there are a few interesting Woolly Bugger variations that have come to my attention in recent years. One thing to note on the original Woolly Bugger is that compared to most commercial and amateur ties seen today, at least beyond its home Pennsylvania range, it has a much longer and denser body hackle.

One version that has served me well uses chenille with a silver-tinsel core for the body, a short, sparse black hackle, and a few strands of holographic flash in the tail.

The Phantom

A yellow and orange Woolly Bugger variation in a vise.
The Phantom. (David J. Siegfried photo)
  • HOOK: #6-10, long-shank streamer hook.
  • THREAD: Brown 6/0.
  • TAIL: Grizzly marabou dyed olive, brown, or orange.
  • RIB: Bronze wire.
  • HACKLE: Brown Hebert hen hackle, palmered.
  • BODY: Olive and fiery-brown variegated chenille.

Jan Spencer, a noted Tasmanian fly fisher, began developing this pattern 20 years ago to imitate the yabby (an Australian shrimp) and other critters found in the weedbeds of Phantom Bay on Arthur's Lake in Tasmania's Central Highlands. At first the fly featured a tail and rib of stiff cock hackle. However, she found that a soft marabou tail and palmered hen hackle improved the fly considerably.

The final iteration was so successful that it was the chief reason Australia won the 2000 World Fly Fishing Championships. And it wasn't a flash in the pan. A few friends returned to the scene of the Australian team's triumph a year later and one wrote, "In the lakes we used three different flies on the cast (loch style) but caught all but a single fish on the fly used by the winning Aussie team." Jan wrote, "It has also taken its share of trophy browns on New Zealand rivers but needs to be extra heavy for fishing fast rivers."

Rusty Cessna

An orange and black Woolly Bugger variation with a spinner at the head, in a vise.
Rusty Cessna. (David J. Siegfried photo)
  • HOOK: #10 Mustad 9674.
  • THREAD: Rusty brown 6/0 Uni­Thread.
  • TAIL: Light rust-colored marabou with two strands of holographic tinsel.
  • BODY: Rootbeer Crystal Chenille.
  • HACKLE: Grizzly dyed cinnamon.
  • HEAD: Small gold bead behind a small gold propeller blade.

Dave Wilson originated the Rusty Cessna to imitate the rusty-colored dam­ selfly nymphs in Davis Lake, California. Some might recoil at the use of a pro­ peller blade, which is iIJegal in some fly­ fishing-only waters. To get the right hackle color, a local hair stylist dyed the grizzly hackle for Wilson. The fly has proven extremely effective in its home waters-and would likely succeed with­ out the propeIJer.

Vern's Fat Black Bugger

A short stubby black Woolly Bugger variation in a vise.
Vern's Fat Black Bugger. (David J. Siegfried photo)
  • HOOK: #2-4 Mustad 9672.
  • THREAD: Black Danville flat-waxed nylon.
  • UNDERTAIL: Six to eight strands of black Krystal Flash.
  • TAIL: Black marabou tied 3/4 of the shank length to minimize short strikes.
  • OVERTAIL: Six to eight strands of black Krystal Flash.
  • UNDERBODY: Black yarn under the front half of the shank to build a fat head.
  • BODY: Black Estaz.

Utah's Strawberry Reservoir is often ranked as one of the top 20 stillwaters in the U.S. Such waters rarely give up their fish easily. About three years ago, Vern Fehlberg of Orem, Utah, tied a few prototypes of a Woolly Bugger variation and gave them to a friend heading for the Green River where they scored big time. Fehlberg duplicated his friend's success by trolling the pattern on Strawberry Reservoir. Since then he has used the Fat Black Bugger almost exclusively in various sizes and colors. "I think it represents a leech," Fehlberg says. Exactly why it averages better results than other leech imitations is open for debate. While others may not catch as many fish as Fehlberg, they often report the fly is their top producer.

Although the original model was black, Fehlberg recommends olive and brown for sunny days and various combinations of black and purple if fish aren't showing interest in the all-black version. An interesting sidebar to this story is that good ideas often arise independently, even half a world away. U.K. Stillwater anglers developed an almost identical pattern called the Blob, or Fritz Idiot Proof Nymph, for reservoir trout. However, in their case, the primary colors are orange and bright green to represent clumps of daphnia.

Bugger Crossroads

Though the Woolly Bugger was originally created to imitate a hellgramite, it also works well as an attractor pattern. Tiers have used elements from Blessing's original pattern to create flies to catch just about every gamefish species. Here are a few patterns that fit into this category and a brief overview on how they were designed. For more Woolly Bugger-type patterns visit the pattern archive at www.flyfisherman.com/.

Recommended


Galloup’s Woolly Sculpin

A white and orange Woolly Bugger variation with a spun-deer-hair head in a vise.
Galloup's Woolly Sculpin. (David J. Siegfried photo)
  • HOOK: #2-8 Tiemco 300.
  • THREAD: Gudebrod GX2.
  • TAIL: Marabou.
  • BODY: Chenille.
  • HACKLE: Saddle hackle, palmered.
  • RIB: Fine gold wire.
  • COLLAR: Stacked deer hair.
  • HEAD: Deer hair, spun and then clipped.

The Woolly Sculpin was an attempt to redesign a tried-and-true pattern (the Woolly Bugger) with a larger silhouette. Originally I was just looking to enlarge a bugger so it moved more water when stripped. But while watching initial designs underwater, I realized it looked less like a leech and more like a swimming crayfish.

I decided to try to make it look more like a sculpin by adding a large deer-hair head and collar. The large deer-hair collar also helps keel the fly underwater. In addition, the drag between the head and water slows the fly, so when you stop stripping, it pauses quickly, making the tail pulse to the side with an erratic darting appearance. If you reduce the size of the head and collar, the fly takes on a good crayfish appearance. This makes the Woolly Sculpin a great imitator of multiple food sources and triggers strikes from the biggest fish. I fish it in black, white, olive, cream, and chartreuse.

–Kelly Galloup

Heng's Conehead Autumn Splendor

A rusty brown Woolly Bugger variation with yellow rubber legs, in a vise.
Heng's Conehead Autumn Splendor. (David J. Siegfried photo)
  • HOOK: #4-12 Tiemco 5263.
  • HEAD: Copper cone head.
  • THREAD: Brown monocord.
  • TAIL: Brown marabou with 4-6 strands of copper Krystal Flash tied on each side.
  • BODY: Brown chenille.
  • HACKLE: One grizzly dyed orange and one grizzly dyed yellow hackle.
  • RIB: Copper wire.
  • LEGS: Yellow rubber legs.

Twenty years ago I had a client in my boat who, on a slow day, used a brown, orange, and yellow bass fly with large doll eyes. While he didn't catch many fish on it, many moved on the fly. The initial designs of the Autumn Splendor were tied on smaller hooks and without the large doll eyes. A client named the fly after he caught a bunch of fish with it on a beautiful fall day. I added the cone head later.

–Tim Heng

Kaufmann's Dredger

A black and chartreuse Woolly Bugger variation with hourglass eyes, in a vise.
Kaufmann's Dredger. (David J. Siegfried photo)
  • HOOK: #1-6 Tiemco 7999.
  • THREAD: Single-strand floss, color to match.
  • EYES: Steel hourglass, paint entirely black, then paint pupils, each one smaller than the previous.
  • TAIL: Marabou, with matching colors of Krystal Flash, Holographic Fly Flash, and Mirror Flash accents.
  • RIB: Fine gold wire.
  • BODY: Single-strand floss, color to suit.
  • HACKLE: Webby saddle hackle, palmered, with 2-3 turns immediately behind eyes.

The Dredger came about while I was fishing and tying flies with Dennis Black at his home on the North Umpqua River. At the time, heavily weighted flies were coming into vogue with Umpqua River anglers, and Dennis, always ahead of his time, was fishing a flashy Woolly Bugger pattern tied on a steelhead hook-the basic Dredger.

After dredging the prime steelhead runs by day, we retired to Dennis's tying room in the evenings with a bottle of Scotch and tied flies for the next day. Some wild color combinations were the result. The Dredger is now one of many steelhead Woolly Bugger variations, but to my knowledge, Dennis tied and fished the first lead­eyed dredging Bugger. I only made a few refinements, tagged a name to it, and popularized it.

–Randall Kaufmann

Cathy's Super Bugger

A bushy black and red Woolly Bugger variation with rubber legs, in a vise.
Cathy's Super Bugger. (David J. Siegfried photo)
  • HOOK: #6-8 Tiemco 3761.
  • THREAD: Tan, olive, or black 3/0.
  • TAIL: Marabou tied over six strands of Krystal Flash.
  • BODY: Black soft hackle.
  • LEGS: Three Silly-legs per side.
  • COLLAR: Orange saddle hackle.
  • EYES: Yellow and black, lead hourglass eyes.
  • HEAD: Tan, olive, or black spiky dubbing wrapped around eyes.

The idea for Cathy's Super Bugger was to design a fly that would create more underwater vibration or noise to help fish locate the fly. The combination of the thick web hackle body and the Sili- 1egs pushes water as the fly is retrieved, creating noise and vibration. Having the eyes tied on top of the hook inverts the fly as it is being retrieved, gives it a more leechlike action in the water, and keeps it from fouling on the bottom. It is usually tied in tan, olive, or black colors.

–Barry Beck


Paul Marriner is the author of Atlantic Salmon: A Fly Fishing Primer and Modern Atlantic Salmon Flies. He lives in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia.




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