Hi Donald,

I was reading in a book by Keith Draper that the Fuzzy Wuzzy was originally tied with the hackle palmered (this was back in the 20s or 30s I think). That would make the original dressing very close to a Wooly Bugger. The double hackle style of these helps, I think, to protect the hackels from getting bitten through as the stem is tied and burried under the body material.

Some nice patterns are made by using two feathers of different colours. A "Rotodyeran" is a gray tail, green body, and the hackles are a bright yellow feather with a grizzle feather in front (to deaden the colour of the bright yellow). This is one of Hughie MacDowell's patterns, which was so called because the original version he tied sat in his hat, fishless, for a few years. Then, one day, a friend and he were fishing in Rotorua, and his friend borrowed it. The dye from the yellow feathers had run a bit giving the fly both its name and an interesting look. His friend got into the fish right away, and all Hughie could do was watch. I've tied a few of these and I like the look of them. I've not had luck with them yet though, but they've not sat in my hat long enough.

I suspect that these ones, which I've tied smaller than usual, will be good river flies as well. I know people do fish the larger ones in rivers sometimes, but these size 10s will be better suited to my 3 and 5 weights.

- Jeff