Tan Bugger
HOOK: Daiichi 1720, sizes 8 to 10.
THREAD: Hot orange 6/0 Uni-Thread.
TAIL: Tan marabou with two strands of root beer Krystal Flash on each side.
BODY: Tan chenille.
HACKLE: Furnace saddle hackle, palmered over the body and a few extra turns at the head.
The Woolly Bugger as a Streamer
Colorado guide and fly designer Ben Furimsky changed the way he fishes Woolly Buggers when he moved from Pennsylvania to Colorado because of the relative absence of hellgrammites in the Western rivers he likes to fish. He’s had more luck fishing bugger variations like his Gunni Special with a more animated retrieve and steady line strips. Furimsky’s more aggressive stripping action allows the bugger to imitate a baitfish, which he finds effective in his Colorado home waters. If that doesn’t work, a strip and pause action sometimes does. The marabou tail billows and flexes with a strip and pause technique, which often triggers a strike. The sharp contrast between black and chartreuse makes the Gunni Special a good fly for strained or turbid water. During the heavy runoff of late winter or early spring when vivid contrast is important, strip a Gunni Special along shoreline structure near the river margins where trout seek relief from the high flows that disrupt normal feeding lanes.
A Woolly Bugger does a good job of imitating most baitfish and can be fished like a streamer by casting across stream and stripping it in. A series of short, rapid strips imitates a darter, dace or minnow.
When using a sculpin imitating pattern, cast upstream to let the fly sink near the bottom. Allow the fly to scrape along the bottom like a sculpin belly crawling among the rocks in search of food. Lift your rod occasionally to mimic a sculpin lifting from the bottom. To target larger trout, switch to sculpin style Woolly Buggers in the low light conditions around dusk and dawn since sculpins also favor feeding during low light and so do the large trout that feed upon them.
A combination of an unweighted fly and a sinking line or sink tip produces lifelike baitfish action. A brisk strip yanks the flydown while a pause in between allows the rise and flutter like a wounded baitfish.
Peacock and Black Bugger
HOOK: Daiichi 1720, sizes 8 to 10.
THREAD: Chartreuse 6/0 Uni-Thread.
TAIL: Black marabou with strands of black Pearl Flashabou on each side.
BODY: Four to five strands of peacock herl wound around the tying thread to reinforce it, then wrapped on the hook shank.
HACKLE: Black saddle hackle, palmered over the body, and a few extra turns at the head.
If I’m fishing a Woolly Bugger as a streamer, I like to let it tumble and roll towards logjams, rock piles, and sweepers, timing the first pop and strip as it nears the structure. I’ve got a good chance for a large trout if I time it right. I also like to pull it through soft seam edges, along fast runs where large trout cruise and hope to catch smaller prey fish on the move. Pull it through pocket water behind rocks and boulders like a small fish seeking a safe haven from the current. Drop in an eddy behind choke points in the main water flow and strip it back into fast water. If that doesn’t work, move to another position and strip it in the opposite direction.
One of the most effective retrieves for a Woolly Bugger is a variation of Ray Bergmann’s hand-twist retrieve. Cast the fly across stream or upstream to let it sink in the water. The severity of the upstream direction (as opposed to a 90-degree angle across stream) depends on the weight of the fly, water depth and speed of the current. A lighter fly, faster current speed or deeper water require a more upstream angle to give the fly an opportunity to get to the bottom (or you can take a shortcut and simply add more weight). Dead drift the fly until it’s just about tight to the line; in other words, just before it starts swinging across the current. Sometimes a mend helps if the slack is gone from your line before you’re ready to strip line in. Then begin a ratchet-like retrieve with your line hand by reaching forward with your thumb and index finger, then pulling more line in by rolling your hand to grasp more line with your last three fingers. Repeat the process again, reaching forward for a new bite with your thumb and forefinger.
Other Woolly Buggers
A dead drifted, unweighted Woolly Bugger looks like a leech writhing below the surface film. The fly puffs and billows as it floats in the current, making it look lifelike. This is a good way to target trout feeding in the middle of the water column.
Black-and-Olive Mudd-Bugger
HOOK: Daiichi 2220, sizes 4 to 10.
THREAD: Black 6/0 Uni-Thread.
TAIL: Black marabou with strands of black Pearl Flashabou on each side.
BODY: Olive pearl tinsel chenille.
HACKLE: Black neck or saddle hackle, palmered over the body, and a few extra turns at the head.
HEAD: Black deer hair spun-an-trimmed like the shape of a sculpin.
When I imitate crayfish, I like to let the fly scrape and scuttle along the stream bottom like a foraging crawdad, then add several brisk strips while rhythmically pulsing the rod to imitate the tail-flexing, backstroke swimming style of a fleeing crayfish. When the drift is finished, let the line trail downstream, even stripping it upstream since a crayfish’s flexing, powerful tail can propel it upstream. Try a modified downstream dangle by combining a few strips to pull the bugger upstream while raising the rod tip, followed by lowering the rod tip to the water to let the fly settle back to the bottom.
If one style of bugger fishing doesn’t work, try a different method, either by adding weight or changing your presentation tactics before changing the fly. I’m always reminded of Frank Sawyer’s “induced take” concept that offers the right animation at the right time, which is when our fly is in front of a fish’s nose. It can change the mind of a reluctant fish.
In his book, ‘Good Flies,’ John Gierach writes, “If you’re stumped and wonder aloud what to do next, at least half of the fly fishers in North America will say, ‘I don’t know, try a Bugger.'” The next time you’re stumped, tie on a bugger. You never know, it just might save you from a fishless day.
Jason Randall is a frequent contributor to American Angler. He can be reached at [email protected].
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