Fly Worked Well on Many Species

[Gandolf]

Hi All,

In fishing for warm water species a couple of weeks ago, a fly worked well on crappie, green sunfish, bluegill, bass, wipers, and also caught a single channel cat, and a single rainbow trout. The fly is a fly I call the olive and orange. A friend named it.

It is a #10 or #12 bugger, olive body, orange tail, a small bead head, and no hackle. The small size is important, I think, because a lot bigger, and the sunfish wouldn't take it. Also the crappie have a reputation for taking smaller streamers. What was surprizing is that the 3 lbs channel cat took the fly. The olive is a fairly medium color, not a dark olive, and has a lot of green in it.

At any rate, I had tied some a few years ago for a friend who uses them on coho salmon in Colorado, and I had tied a couple for myself. I had not tried them until a couple of weeks ago, but intend to tie more.

Is there a name for a bugger that has no hackle?

Have you had "surprize" flies that have worked great for you lately?

Thanks and regards,

Gandolf

[lee s]

Loretta does......
http://www.ncffb.org/index.cgi?frames=n;read=372346
....lee s.

[DShock]

Gandolf,
It isn't surprising to me that you caught a Channel Cat because they suspend off the bottom and eat minnows and bugs like trout. I have seen Woolybugger patterns that have no hackle but I don't remember where. There are flies that have the hackle wrapped at the head and not the normal way around the body.
Doug

[flyandtie]

well, i had to do some research
but i found it!!!!
the fly you are describing is called a fluff butt
http://laflyfish.com/flies/fluff-butt.php

[hoboflyfisher]

Yes I make a light Gray Fluff Butt that has accounted for hundreds of bass over the years. I do add Pearl Flashabou to the tail for attraction to the fly. I fish this fly under a strike indicator in shallow water where rocks abound.
Hobo

[GILs_GONE_WILD]

I've tied that fly up for a few years now that my brother-in-law showed me but it doesn't use any chenille.

Tie in a piece of fine copper wire at the bend of the hook.

Tie in the marabou tail but do not cut.

Twist the remaining marabou around the copper wire and with that wrap a body around the hook shank up to the bead head.

Tie off and trim excess.

Of course this fly in one solid color and not "two toned" like the ones in the links provided.

Amazingly simple yet very effective fly.

[JeffHamm]

Hi FL_Skibum,

That sounds very much like a damsel fly nymph pattern we tie here. Sometimes a wing case can be added, and the copper is tied as a rib over the maraboo, but basically it's just a maraboo tail with the rest of the feater wound up the shank. I've done the same thing using feathers off a golden pheasant, though I dub a fur thorax on these. Here's the damsel nymph:
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g142/ ... _Nymph.jpg

and here's a version using a read body feather off of a golden pheasant (I've added some partridge legs for more movement on this one):
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g142/ ... sNymph.jpg

- Jeff

[LadyFisher]

How about a 'Naked Woolly" for a name?

[Gandolf]

Hi Ladyfisher and all,

After the post above on the name, I looked up in "Fly Tying, Adventures in Fur Feathers and Fun" by John McKimm, copyrighted in 1982, showed the fly with out the bead. It was named "just a bug", and was first tied by Dave Johnson, Kinghtstown, Indiana for bluegills. Color of the original was white and orange. This name very likely predates the "fluff butt" name.

The name Ladyfisher suggested made me think "no-hackle bugger", but "naked bugger" may be good too.
Regards,

Gandolf

[Gandolf]

Hi All,

What was I thinking about!!!

After reading the replies, I recalled the fly in John McKimm's book, which I mentioned in the post above, and then porceded to suggest a different name!

Well, as I was mowing, it dawned on me that such an actions showed a lack of integrity. The fact is that the name of this fly has been around since 1982 at least, when John likely published an article in the FFF newsletter, where he was the editor. If you read the book, it seems likely to have been around for some time before that. John had been active in fly fishing and writing starting back in 1966. Undoubtedly he had learned about the fly, probalby from the originator, in his travels.


At any rate, in thinking about the fly, and a name, it went right over my head that I don't have the right to change the name on a fly that has been named for about 40 years or more. Such an act is unethical, and fails to give credit to the originator. We fly tiers and fly fishermen only get credit for what we do from each other. As such, it only seems right to me to give credit to the originator by calling the fly by the name he gave it.

The guys who call the fly a "fluff butt" probably did not know about Johns article of 35 years ago when they started calling the fly the "fluff butt."
They did mention that someone they knew had been tying it since around 1980, coincidentially about the time John first published an article about the fly.

The fact that the current tie has a bead head and the original did not carries no weight with me. When a bead was put on a Prince nymph, we didn't give it a new name, we call it a bead head Prince. When a bead is put on a streamer like the Mickey Finn, we would call it a bead head Mickey Finn. This fly is no different.

At any rate, from now on when I write anything about the fly I will call it by the name it has had for more than 35 years, "Just a Bug." The tier is Dave Johnson.

Regards,

Gandolf