The Wooly Bugger ( or Woolly Bugger)

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

When I started selling flies in a big sporting goods store around 1965 we had tons of old trout streamer patterns.

Grey Ghost, Edison Tiger, Spruce, Mikey Fin, Royal Coachman and dozens of others that I can't bring up out of my 'hard drive' right now.

We had the Wooly Worm too which is like a Wooly Bugger today but with a short tuft of a tail or no tail at all.

Then someone added that longer marabou tail to the Wooly Worm and called it the Wooly Bugger.

I know that we did not have the Wooly Bugger to sell over 30 years ago so it's fairly new to us.

Like the Wooly Worm, you could tie the Wooly Bugger in all sizes and it hundreds of color combinations.

I think you can catch anything that swims with a Wooly Bugger if you just tie it to match the standard streamer flies used for that species.

Today the Wooly Bugger is in the "Top Ten" list of the best selling wet flies in the USA.

My good friend Richard Haavik, owner of Rainbow Lodge in British Columbia, told me that the black Crystal (Wooly) Bugger has eliminated the need for all their old BC wet flys from years past. He said flies like the old famous Carey Special and Doc Spratley have been put to rest by the Wooly Bugger up there.

[Darian]

The first time I ever noticed anyone using a marabou tail on a Wooly Worm was at Pyramid Lake in approximately 1980. Multiple colors but black and purple were the primaries. Since the time I started fishing up there, I've seen a wide variety of styles and color combos. Some involving synthetic materials in Wooly Buggers.... They all seem to work at one time or another.

Altho I had already had experience casting shooting heads and 2 fly rigs, that was the first time that I'd seen a two fly cast of flies that were that heavy (weight wise) used with shooting heads. These flies were tied on size 4, 3X long hooks and weighted shanks. The cast was made by laying the line out on the water during the back cast and lobbed forwarded as far as possible. Sounds more difficult than it is from a ladder. If the floating beetles were around in those days, they were a well kept secret....

I vaguely recall a sports shop (probably not around any longer) in Reno or Sparks that had a wire basket hanging in the window. In the basket was a whole bunch of Wooly Buggers that caught a Cutthroat in Pyramid. It seemed like every color was represented there....

Now, Reno Fly Shop has the widest variety of Wooly Buggers (all named) that I've seen.... Great fly.

[paulegan81]

I teach a beginning fly tying class in the winter for GBF and we tie all three of those that Carl mentioned...Great flies!!! easy to tie and they show many of the skills need to further ones ability......
I also agree that with all the hype over new flies that some of the students want to learn....
it is hard to keep them interested in these frumpy old generals
The woolly Bugger is also the first fly I learned to tie.. I have tied it in many sizes, colors and called it many sub-names.
The Woolly bugger has brought to hand for me many upon many fish in all types of water from High streams to lakes to the delta

Paul
Tight lines to all
and to all a good FIGHT!!!

[Hairstacker]

Ah, the woolly bugger. . . . Is there anyone, no matter how long they've tied flies, who doesn't carry some of these in their fly box? Wasn't it a woolly bugger that enticed an 18 lb+ largemouth bass in the Delta a few years ago? One of the all-time greatest flies.

[Bob Scheidt]

I too am a huge fan of the bugger. I dye some of my own materials for the buggers. I like to match the color tones so the tail, body and hackle match as close as I can get them.

I have a variation where I put a contrasting stripe of diamond braid along the back of the fly. I call it the skunk bugger.

Also put a white or orange brass bead on a somewhat rusty orange bugger, put some rubber with flakes in the tail and call it a crawbugger.

Bob Scheidt

[gene goss]

A Wiggle Tail by Jay Fair will out fish the wooly bugger if tied right.........I belong to the Granite Bay Flycasters and teach a stillwater trout class once a year with Jim Holmes........I'm embarrass when my friends ask what's my best flies for stillwater fishing are.......and the #1 fly in my box is a black wiggle tail. When tied right.......and retrived right......this fly has a better jiging action then the wooly bugger.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Great Gene......

We sell Jay Fair's Wiggle Tail and it is a variation of the Woolly Bugger.

[JD]

A Wiggle Tail by Jay Fair will out fish the wooly bugger if tied right

Debatable, but isn't a Wiggle Tail really just a variant of the Wooly Bugger?

Come on, be honest...

[Ed Wahl]

Sounds like a challenge to me. What say you, Gene? Ed

[Adam Grace]

I tied up some big saltwater baby tarpon woolly buggers for fishing in the mangroves, the baby tarpon loved them so did a couple of snook. The woolly bugger is a super versatile fly...I love it!