I am not proud enough of the first two attempts to show them to the viewing public. However, the third attempt faired better. The proportions are off because it was tied on a #12 2XL 2X heavy hook. I got a little wild with the colors too. I have been told I am “color vision dificient”, so if it isn’t as pretty to you, please feel free to comment. The first one took two hours to tie with another method. This one took less than 10 min. with a method I had never used before. Thanks to DG for setting me on the right path on tying this one. His instructions were excellent. Luke
There’s lots of ways to tie buggers and they almost all effective; you’re going to have a tough time keeping fish off that fly. I like to keep them as simple as possible since where I fish them I’m going to lose them and I hate spending a lot of vise time on sacrificial flies.
On fairly small hooks (I think this is a #6 4xl) I just wrap the butts of the marabou tail forward to use as the body, tie in the hackle tip first and wrap back down the body (gives the hackle a swept-back effect that I like), and then wrap the wire rib (tied in with the tail) forward to secure the hackle. Even with the Sexi-floss legs, this one’s about 5 minutes to tie.
Regards,
Scott
Nothing wrong with that tie, Luke, it looks very good. I believe with woolly buggers, the uglier they are the better they fish.
Luke, as already mentioned, that fly will get fish. I would offer three suggestions. First being, again, there is nothing wrong with your tie. Secondly, thin out the tail a bit and even substitute Marabou with different material like Pheasant tail or Rabbit. Thirdly, when wrapping the hackle, tie in by the tip of the feather at the bend, then wrap to eye. This will put the larger part of the feather at the eye. Then do a couple more wraps at the eye making a collar. This is called a pusher.
So many little variations to a simple pattern that can create and trigger bites. Just suggestions to what you already have down.
Thanks everyone, Fly Goddess, I cheated with the marabou tail- it’s a whole chikabou feather, I think I’ll try to select a smaller one on the next tie. I started the butt of the feather at the front, so it should be smaller at the rear. It may have to do with my feather selecting skills or the fact that I only used about half of a 3" feather (the butt end). I’ll try it how you suggested this evening and post the results. Luke
After reading my own signature line about owning failures…:rolleyes: Here is the first attempt:
Good Looking Buggar Scott. I’m tying on #12’s. I couldn’t find Buggars small enough for my liking at the local “shop”, this is part of what led me to tie. I’ll be trying your method tonight as well, though I am a little apprehensive about tying behind a head. I guess I have to learn sometime. Thanks. Luke
Luke,
If I was picking a 'bugger to fish with, I’d pick your ‘first’ one over the one you posted in your initial post.
I’ve been collecting fly tying books for twenty years, and almost all of them show a wooly bugger variation or two. Very few of these looked alike in proportion, tailing density and length, hackle density and length, etc… Many include an extra turn of hackle at the head for a ‘pusher’ effect, many do not. Tailing materials vary wildly from the now considered ‘standard’ marabou.
You can add flash materials to the tail, wrap it through the body, lay it alongside the body, use a wire rib, or not. Wind the hackle from back to front or front to back. Slimmer and longer or shorter and fatter. Bead heads, dumbbell eyes, bead chain, lead underwraps…whatever you like.
The amazing thing about ALL these variations is that they ALL catch fish.
As far as tying time goes, it’s slow for everyone when they are first starting out. A simple 'bugger with my rotary vise can be tied in under a minute, but thats after years of practice at it. If you can tie fishable flies in ten minutes and are enjoying the experience, then you are on the right track.
Have fun, experiment. Make them look good to YOU. The fish will eat them if you present them properly, and with a 'bugger it’s hard to do that wrong.
Buddy
Great start, keep going.
If ever you want to shorten or even up a marabou tail pinch it between your thumb nail and the pad on your index finger and tear it. Cutting it makes it look awful, but tearing makes for a natural looking tail.
Cheers,
A.
Right on, that is the best and most over looked advise.
That tail can be imitating a leech or a fish, for a minnow I like this method for squaring the tail up. http://www.flyfishersrepublic.com/tying/marabou-wing-tail/ For a leech or Dog Nobbler http://www.scandicfly.dk/lang-en/put-take/46-dog-nobbler-black-str-8.html I prefer the marabou not squared off and that’s easily accomplished by taking your maribou from one side and the end of the feather.
Thirdly, when wrapping the hackle, tie in by the tip of the feather at the bend, then wrap to eye.
If you do this, then the hackle is held on at two points, front and back, and you have used the weakest part of the feather, the tip, for the fly. One toothy brown cutting the hackle and your fly is done.
If you tie in a wire at the back with the chenille, wrap the chenille forward and tie off, then tie in the butt of your hackle at the front and wrap it back (\\), then counterwrap it with the wire going forward (a la Scott P’s pic) (/////), the hackle is held on at a dozen places by the wire (XXXXX), and you have used the heavier part of the feather shaft rather than the lighter. The hackle fibers still taper front to back. Even if a tooth cuts the hackle stem, the fly will not come unraveled. Think dozens of browns instead of a couple.
And if you think about this, My method of tying in at the bend add wire as you mentioned at the bend, wrap the chenille or body material forward to the eye, wrap the hackle say clockwise to the eye with a few extra wraps, the wrap the wire counter clockwise. NOW as you mentioned, the Hackle is tied in at the bend and at the eye. and much easier to finish the fly with a nice thread head. Much easier to Palmer hackle as well.
Nice buggers. On the cone head with rubber legs I use a black/white barred as its been my top producing steels fly for awhile. May have to post one tho.
Luke: for your first attempts they are very nice indeed. I can’t see clearly on your pics, but I think you may be crowding the eye, and as a new tier I would not be surprised if that is happening.
10 days ago on Sunday I was teaching a course for the day and reminded the students to attach the thread 1 eye space behind the eye, and to keep that space empty until they tied off the last material. In your case that would mean using that space for the hackle and head only ? my suggestion.
Good luck, and thanks for being brave enough to post.
I don’t know if it’s bravery or just desperation from having no one around to bounce stuff off of. Yes I have been crowding the head. It became really ugly when I tied a bead head this morning. I’m now taking a little more care with the head area. Trying to stop with the chenille is my main problem. Luke
Yes, I know. It is so easy to say (with chenille, hackle or anything else for that matter), “This is going on so nicely I’ll just do a couple more wraps”. Don’t listen to that voice.
Dave Hughes showed a good idea for beadheads at the Midwest Show last year. He put 2 or 3 wraps of lead behind the beadhead to snug against the bead with the thread wraps holding the lead. The result is to remove the cavity behind the bead, so there is less movement of the bead after the fly is done, and also a better base for finishing the fly instead of trying to get the whip finish in behind the bead. And the extra weight doesn’t hurt either. 
Goddess, you didn’t mention the wire in your first post, which is why I did in mine. The counterwrap makes these SO much more durable, but I see so many tied without it, falling apart after a couple fish.
Sorry, you are right it helps make them more durable. I didn’t mention it as I rarely use wire and the species he mentioned I figured would be safe. Using thread instead of wire can help too.
While the dominant species in Central Ill-annoys are are good ole mud-water panfish- Bass, Bluegill, Carp (both Asian and the previous invasive species) and Crappie, for reasons I can’t fully explain I am drawn to trout. It could be because they are alien to my mud-water existence or (C&R purists turn back now) because they taste so darned good. (Luke ducks and narrowly misses the spears and axes hurled at his head.) Who knows? Fortunately enough for our protagonist, the State of Illinois has seen fit to provide put-and-take Rainbow opportunities within driving distance. Calm down, if we don’t eat them, they will just die slowly as temps rise in the still water. The water in the local lake hit 95* last Summer. All this aside, the longevity of my flies may well be wasted, as in the last 5 months of trying, I have not managed to catch a single trout. Last Summer, I did well catching many of the local species. I believe my good fortune in landing these on a fly is in no small part due to the fact that I have been fishing for and catching these species since I was 3 years old. I have a good idea at anytime of the the day any day of the year where they hold, where they feed when and on what. Trout, on the other hand, are a mystery. This is likely the true source of of my obsession. We must refer to it as an obsession now because I find myself “investing” an inordinate amount of time and money in the pursuit. At times I wonder how different this is from a drug addiction. I keep thinking “if I could just catch one…” Dangerously reminiscent of a junkie needing just a little taste. I read somewhere that John Merwin produced a tome on flyfishing still waters. Maybe it’s time to invest a little more time and money… Luke
Luke,
You’ll certainly not have anything other than support from me if you “harvest” a few trout responsibly. It seems strange to me that some people will shoot deer, birds, rabbits etc, but are aghast at the thought of killing a fish. Oliver Edwards once described to me the experience he had of fishing a famous and popular C&R only stretch in the States. He had to use flies of size 24 or smaller to get a take. This wasn’t because they were appropriate to the hatch, rather the fish had learned not to trust anything larger. As a result the fish were like snakes, emaciated and starving. I understand that this is an extreme example. What it shows is that either approach taken to an extreme has a negative impact on the fish.
Here we have very different access rules for the water. Although it does provide a level of control over the number of fish taken, I would not, in any way, recommend it over your system. My argument is for the self imposed discipline of not damaging the resources we have. Though how we as anglers achieve this on mass I don’t know. Until we have some method, I can understand the imposition of C&R only.
As for not catching from the still water you fish I can only recommend the approach we take. If the flies here reflect what you are fishing they are not the problem. What we do is find a likely spot and make the cast. Count the fly down as it sinks, so you know the depth. Then try different retrieves until you start getting takes. Then you will know the depth, and retrieve required. It is good to remember you can not retrieve line so fast that the trout can not catch your fly. The other day the retrieve that worked was to put the rod under your arm and use both hands to pull line in. A few days earlier in the same place they wanted the fly almost static.
What I would recommend is fly fishing for the species you know better. This will give you confidence in fly fishing. Catching something is the start to catching any species.
Yes I think it is an addiction, its been a long hard closed season here, and the lack of fishing has driven me to the local put and take (although they do permit C&R as well). I wouldn’t be far out to describe the feeling as withdrawal. In the same way, in the season it can get to overdose levels. I must be a hopeless addict.
Hope that helps.
Cheers,
Alan.