Olive Wooly Bugger FFI
Fly of the Month 04.23 Olive Woolly Bugger
The “fly of the month” series for 2023 will celebrate the Fly Fishers International Fly Tying Group Fly Tying Skills Awards Program. Each month Tom and I will present one of the fly patterns used to evaluate a fly tyer’s skills toward a Bronze Level in the first six months, then one of the fly pattern used to evaluate a fly tyer’s skills toward a Silver Level in the later part of the year. The fourth fly pattern in the Bronze Level series is a streamer, the woolly bugger. A woolly bugger is easy to tie and most anglers use them from time to time. However, pay special attention to the method of applying the rib to this specific recipe.
Olive Woolly Bugger
The Woolly Bugger is an attractor or a generic imitation of various food sources that trout respond to eagerly such as, a hellgrammite, a small fish, a leech or a damsel fly nymph. Just the movement from the marabou and the soft hackle alone attracts trout.
Fished as a wet fly with slow or no motion, the darker woolly bugger best imitates a hellgrammite or the huge larva stage of the dobsonfly. Fished with a fast strip, the brighter woolly bugger best imitates a fleeing minnow. Some of these colors defy an explanation, but they can be as productive. The woolly bugger is a “go to” fly for Delayed Harvest streams in North Carolina.
Other often used Woolly Buggers tied include the colors of black, brown, chartreuse, pink, purple, white and yellow. Yes, bright colors, UV materials as well as dark and earth tone colors all work depending on water conditions and the action applied by the angler. Sparkle and flash adds attraction to the fly pattern as well. These variations have yielded other fly pattern series such as, Krystal Buggers, Sparkle Buggers and Flash-A-Buggers.
Tying the fly pattern for the Bronze Level Submission
Visit the FFI website and navigate to the Fly Tying Group, then to the Bronze Award Handbook pages. The website has excellent instructions as to how to tie and submit the required group of fly patterns to an FFI Bronze Award Evaluator. The website includes a video presenting each step to tie the Olive Woolly Bugger. The handbook is easy to understand and follow. Tie three flies with consistency for the Bronze Awards submission, then tie more for the fly box.
Fly of the Month 04.23
Olive Woolly Bugger
Hook: #8 Nymph hook 3xL
Thread: 8/0 Olive brown Uni-thread or equivalent
(typically thread color matches body color)
Tail: Olive marabou
Rib: Copper wire
Body: Olive Chenille
Hackle: Grizzly dyed olive
(olive or grizzly hackle may be substituted)
Head: Whip-finish and head cement
Note: The very popular woolly bugger is a versatile fly and can tied in many colors and sizes. Woolly buggers are used as streamers to imitate small fish, as general attractor flies and to imitate leeches or damsel fly nymphs.
Directions:
1) De-barb and mount the hook in the vise. Attach the thread behind the eye of the hook.
2) Wrap the hook shank with the tying thread to the bend of the hook.
3) Select a marabou feather for the tail. To tame the fibers dampen your fingers and run the feather through your wet fingers. The tail will be the length of the shank of the hook.
4) Make one turn of thread under the rear of the tail between the marabou and the shank. Bind down the waste for about 2/3 of the way along the top of the shank. Trim the waste at an angle to keep from forming a bump which would be exaggerated by the Chenille body. Bring your thread back to the bend of the hook.
5) Take the thread to the mid-shank position. Tie on the copper wire rib material with a quarter-inch tag toward the eye. While holding tension on the bobbin, lift and bend back the wire waste tag to form a “U” shape. Secure the copper wire by tying it under the shank of the hook with your tying thread, end your thread at the bend of the hook.
6) Prepare the end of the Chenille by picking off the fibers from the twisted core. This procedure will reduce the bump where the Chenille is tied in on the shank.
7) Tie on the Chenille at the base of the tail. Take the thread to the front of the shank.
8) Wrap the Chenille forward to form the body. Make a couple of turns of the tying thread to tie off and hold the Chenille from unraveling. While holding tension on the bobbin, trim the waste Chenille leaving about a quarter-inch waste. Maintain tension on the bobbin and use tweezers to pull off the Chenille fibers to reveal the core strands. Make several more wraps of tread over the core strands and trim the waste. This procedure helps to minimize large bumps where the Chenille is tied off.
9) Select and prepare the body hackle by locating the tie in section of the hackle stem. Strip off fibers below the tie in spot You want the hackle fibers to be around 1x to 1.5x times the gap of the look in length.
10) These feathers ma contain some webbing. Tie in the hackle by the butt end with the concave side towards the shank.
11) Wrap the hackle back towards the tail in open turns. You can make one full turn up front before angling back.
12) While holding the tip of the hackle under tension, grasp the copper wire rib, make 2 turns at the rear end of the body, wrap the wire forward, going across the feather stem to lock it down It is acceptable to counter wrap the rib on the woolly bugger. Continue wrapping the wire forward in open turns. Wiggle the wire as you wrap forward to keep it from catching hackle fibers. The copper wire will hold down the body hackle. Trim the tip of the hackle feather.
13) The wire rib will cross over the stem to provide added strength to the body and hackle assembly regardless of the direction the rib is wrapped. Continue wrapping the wire through the hackle in open turns and tie off at the front.
14) While holding tension on the thread bobbin, wiggle the wire back and forth or use the helicopter method to “worry off” the wire. Add additional wraps to form the head, whip-finish and cement the head.
- Tom Adams, Alen Baker
The “fly of the month” series for 2023 will celebrate the Fly Fishers International Fly Tying Group Fly Tying Skills Awards Program. Each month Tom and I will present one of the fly patterns used to evaluate a fly tyer’s skills toward a Bronze Level in the first six months, then one of the fly pattern used to evaluate a fly tyer’s skills toward a Silver Level in the later part of the year. The fourth fly pattern in the Bronze Level series is a streamer, the woolly bugger. A woolly bugger is easy to tie and most anglers use them from time to time. However, pay special attention to the method of applying the rib to this specific recipe.
Olive Woolly Bugger
The Woolly Bugger is an attractor or a generic imitation of various food sources that trout respond to eagerly such as, a hellgrammite, a small fish, a leech or a damsel fly nymph. Just the movement from the marabou and the soft hackle alone attracts trout.
Fished as a wet fly with slow or no motion, the darker woolly bugger best imitates a hellgrammite or the huge larva stage of the dobsonfly. Fished with a fast strip, the brighter woolly bugger best imitates a fleeing minnow. Some of these colors defy an explanation, but they can be as productive. The woolly bugger is a “go to” fly for Delayed Harvest streams in North Carolina.
Other often used Woolly Buggers tied include the colors of black, brown, chartreuse, pink, purple, white and yellow. Yes, bright colors, UV materials as well as dark and earth tone colors all work depending on water conditions and the action applied by the angler. Sparkle and flash adds attraction to the fly pattern as well. These variations have yielded other fly pattern series such as, Krystal Buggers, Sparkle Buggers and Flash-A-Buggers.
Tying the fly pattern for the Bronze Level Submission
Visit the FFI website and navigate to the Fly Tying Group, then to the Bronze Award Handbook pages. The website has excellent instructions as to how to tie and submit the required group of fly patterns to an FFI Bronze Award Evaluator. The website includes a video presenting each step to tie the Olive Woolly Bugger. The handbook is easy to understand and follow. Tie three flies with consistency for the Bronze Awards submission, then tie more for the fly box.
Fly of the Month 04.23
Olive Woolly Bugger
Hook: #8 Nymph hook 3xL
Thread: 8/0 Olive brown Uni-thread or equivalent
(typically thread color matches body color)
Tail: Olive marabou
Rib: Copper wire
Body: Olive Chenille
Hackle: Grizzly dyed olive
(olive or grizzly hackle may be substituted)
Head: Whip-finish and head cement
Note: The very popular woolly bugger is a versatile fly and can tied in many colors and sizes. Woolly buggers are used as streamers to imitate small fish, as general attractor flies and to imitate leeches or damsel fly nymphs.
Directions:
1) De-barb and mount the hook in the vise. Attach the thread behind the eye of the hook.
2) Wrap the hook shank with the tying thread to the bend of the hook.
3) Select a marabou feather for the tail. To tame the fibers dampen your fingers and run the feather through your wet fingers. The tail will be the length of the shank of the hook.
4) Make one turn of thread under the rear of the tail between the marabou and the shank. Bind down the waste for about 2/3 of the way along the top of the shank. Trim the waste at an angle to keep from forming a bump which would be exaggerated by the Chenille body. Bring your thread back to the bend of the hook.
5) Take the thread to the mid-shank position. Tie on the copper wire rib material with a quarter-inch tag toward the eye. While holding tension on the bobbin, lift and bend back the wire waste tag to form a “U” shape. Secure the copper wire by tying it under the shank of the hook with your tying thread, end your thread at the bend of the hook.
6) Prepare the end of the Chenille by picking off the fibers from the twisted core. This procedure will reduce the bump where the Chenille is tied in on the shank.
7) Tie on the Chenille at the base of the tail. Take the thread to the front of the shank.
8) Wrap the Chenille forward to form the body. Make a couple of turns of the tying thread to tie off and hold the Chenille from unraveling. While holding tension on the bobbin, trim the waste Chenille leaving about a quarter-inch waste. Maintain tension on the bobbin and use tweezers to pull off the Chenille fibers to reveal the core strands. Make several more wraps of tread over the core strands and trim the waste. This procedure helps to minimize large bumps where the Chenille is tied off.
9) Select and prepare the body hackle by locating the tie in section of the hackle stem. Strip off fibers below the tie in spot You want the hackle fibers to be around 1x to 1.5x times the gap of the look in length.
10) These feathers ma contain some webbing. Tie in the hackle by the butt end with the concave side towards the shank.
11) Wrap the hackle back towards the tail in open turns. You can make one full turn up front before angling back.
12) While holding the tip of the hackle under tension, grasp the copper wire rib, make 2 turns at the rear end of the body, wrap the wire forward, going across the feather stem to lock it down It is acceptable to counter wrap the rib on the woolly bugger. Continue wrapping the wire forward in open turns. Wiggle the wire as you wrap forward to keep it from catching hackle fibers. The copper wire will hold down the body hackle. Trim the tip of the hackle feather.
13) The wire rib will cross over the stem to provide added strength to the body and hackle assembly regardless of the direction the rib is wrapped. Continue wrapping the wire through the hackle in open turns and tie off at the front.
14) While holding tension on the thread bobbin, wiggle the wire back and forth or use the helicopter method to “worry off” the wire. Add additional wraps to form the head, whip-finish and cement the head.
- Tom Adams, Alen Baker