Black Woolly Bugger       

Weight: Lead Wire

Hook:  Tiemco TMC 5263 (# 6-18)

Thread: Black 6/0

Tail: Black Marabou

Rib: Copper Wire, Silver or Gold

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!

See you next week!