In the spring I was reading an article in Northwest fly fishing
written by a fellow who fishes Montana rivers with streamers,
primarily with what he called a "big ugly spark plug of a Wooly
Bugger". He had a name for it, and if I find the article again, I
will send his name and the real name of his bugger, which I simply
call the "Back to Basics" bugger.
In recent years I have been like the prodigal son, "seeking wanton
women" when it comes to wooly buggers. I had abandoned hackle all
together and substituted Mohair or Ice Dub or brushed Antron or ice
chenille, or all three. I have added beads, and propellers (and I
have also also spent time with a particularly hot number called the
"Chili Pepper.")
So along comes this article with this guy saying he only uses this
one fly, and he catches lots of fish. It was nothing more than a
simple, traditional bugger, black marabou tail, brown chenille body,
copper rib, with palmered Cree or Grizzly hackle. That's it. No
bead, no propeller, no ice dub, no crystal chenille body, no crystal
flash in the tail, nothing!
So I tied some up for still water fishing using it as my trailing fly
with one of my gaudy "whores of Babylon" buggers in the lead...
and ... you guessed it... that plain old bugger has out fished the
others 10 to one.... including... the venerable Chili (sorry Tony. It
is probably just our local planted fish. They settle for hamburger
when they could be having the T-bone)
I just tied up another dozen for tomorrows fishing.
Here is the recipe
Hook: Streamer
Weight: lead weight (if desired, I add weight to mine)
Thread: Black, or Chili Pepper Orange (Not in his recipe, but I just
can't resist adding Tony's snazzy orange collar)
Tail: Black Marabou
Body: Brown or Tobacco Brown chenille (In the article there was just
a picture and a recipe, the recipe said brown, but it looked tobacco
brown to me, so that is what I have been using)
Rib: Copper Wire
Hackle: Cree or Grizzly
I like to get everything tied in at the bend except the hackle, then
I wrap the body forward and tie off, attach the hackle behind the eye
of hook by its butt end and palmer back to the bend, then anchor it
by palmering the copper over it to the eye.
Some times I also throw on a bead. Old habits die hard.
Tom Davenport
PS I have change my old [EMAIL PROTECTED] email addy. The new one
is [EMAIL PROTECTED]
