Hackle:
Black Cock Stripped on one side (Palmered)
Body: Black Chenille
1/ Firstly
decide whether you want to weight the fly. I personally
add lead weight to most of my Woolly Buggers. If
so take the lead and starting at the rear of the
fly wind a nice even layer of lead to a point near
the front of the hook shank. If you want to give
the fly a nice undulating action tie the lead on
the front half of the fly.
2/ Now
tie in your thread. Either at the front or rear
of the fly, with this pattern it doesn't matter.
Wrap a base of thread up and down the shank creating
a criss-cross look to secure the lead in place.
Also wrap to small build ups of thread to the front
and rear of the lead which will make sure the lead
cannot move.
3/ Next
up select a good bunch of black marabou feathers.
This will then be tied in as the tail of the fly
which gives it the lovely pulsing action it is famous
for. The length of this tail should be roughly equal
to the length of the hook shank. Some measure it
now but I prefer to tie in an oversize, quickly
selected bunch trimming once in place by breaking
with my fingers. Tie in and trim the excess.
4/ Take
you wire you will use to rib the fly with and tie
in at the rear of the hook. Once it is tied in pull
it to the rear and out of the way of the next steps
and trim the excess. Wind several wraps of thread
over the trimmed stubs of wire giving it more strength
overall as well as covering up the previous step.
5/ Now
get your piece of black chenille. Tie it in the
same way you tied the wire in previously. If you
are not using very thick chenille tie it in in the
middle section of the chenille allowing you to twist
the two ropes you create together. This will give
you the desired thickness required. remember this
is a bulky fly. Trim any excess you may have and
move the thread forward to a point just to the front
of the lead.
6/ Take
your chenille rope and wind it forward to the thread.
Make sure each successive turn of chenille is to
the front of the previous one giving you a lovely
bulky body. Double up on wraps where necessary to
get the desired look to the pattern. When you reach
the thread tie it off and trim the excess chennile.
7/ Select
a black cock hackle feather. Some like to use hen
hackles but this would seem to defeat the purpose
of this fly. The marabou adds all the action required
and the chenille body and hackle add bulk. Using
a cock hackle actually helps the action more so
then a hen as it sticks out at right angles from
the fly moving water as it's fished. Strip one side
of the feather of it's fibres and tie in shiny side
toward you, hackled side out.
8/
Trim the excess feather stub. Then carefully
grasping the hackle feather wind it back towards
the rear of the fly. Use between 4-6 even wraps
to get there. When I say be careful I mean in regards
to breaking the fragile feather while winding. Once
you have the desired look transfer the hackle feather
to your left hand and move to the next step.
9/
This is the only fiddly part of the process.
Grab the wire with your right hand and take 3 turns
in the same plane at the very rear of the fly locking
in the hackle feather. Once this is done wind the
wire forward though the body of the fly, ribbing
and strengthening as you go. Use no less than 4
turns and no more than 6 as in the previous step.
When you reach the thread tie off and trim the excess
wire.
10/
Lastly trim the excess hackle feather at
the rear of the fly. Add a couple of half hitches
to finish or if you prefer whip finish. As this
is a Wet Fly that gets plenty of mistreatment by
fish and fisherman, feel free to add a drop of head
cement, either clear or black to just give it a
touch more strength. And there you have it!
The
Pattern
This fly
is very easy to tie and is extremely durable. It can
be tied in a multitude of colours with greens, olives,
browns all working well at times. It is also a good
pattern to have in a variety of sizes and I tie mine
as large as a #6 and as small as a #18. Feel free to
play with all aspects of it. The use of synthetic materials
has really seen some fantastic variations of this pattern
and the addition of Flashabou or Crystal Flash. Many
unique and effective patterns have evolved in this manner
with the 'Flash-a-Bugger' one of the best of these
hybrids.
This fly
is very useful for blind searching in lakes. The large
black version is particularly useful in dirty water
and its profile allows it to be found in such adverse
conditions. As such it is a great early season pattern.
This is the case whether fishing still or moving water.
Fished along the edge of a lake drop off or hard
along the edge of dirty, swollen streams the Woolly
Bugger is pretty hard to beat. Another effective technique
using this pattern requires fishing back into the bank
from a drift boat. Drifting along and casting a weighted
Woolly into fish holding tight against the bank can
be very exciting, often you don't have a chance to strip
the fly before it is nailed!
