First Attempt At A Woolly Buggar

[BadAndy]

Well I won't say how long it took, or how many restarts a had. But fly #1 is done, and while it's not going to win any beauty contests I think it's 'fishable'.

 

Had a couple issues figuring out how to prep hackle and marabou, the finish on the wire wrap isnt as neat as I'd like it....

 

Suggestions or comments welcome!

[somereddeerguy]

Looks better than the first fly I ever tied! congrats

[fishinhogdaddy]

I tie mine with a shorter tail. For the places I fish (still waters) I tie 1x the length of the hook. Any longer and I find that the fish short-strike the tail and don't hook up as often. Nice tie for the first time tho! Keep at it. At $2+ a fly, it adds up quickly.

Good job.

FHD

[Sparkplug]

Nice. I think you'll find that color combo will be very effective. I've had good results with the same pattern, but with brown hackle (still the black tail).

 

I echo FHD's comment above on the tail length. On stillwaters in particular, I have had many similar experiences with short strikes on flies with long marabou tails. As I continue to evolve my balanced leech ties, I find that they are getting shorter and shorter on the tail (and with overall fly length), with an attendant improvement in hookups.

 

You can pinch off marabou to give you the desired tail length, on flies already tied. It doesn't seem to me that the trout notice any difference between full-fibre marabou and marabou that has been pinched off. You can always taper the pinching off as well, if you want a particular shape to the tail.

[professori]

As well as pinching the tail shorter, you could move your tie in point for the body a bit further down the hook to just above the barb rather than the point of the hook. Continue the hackle wrap and the wire right up to the base of the bead (I like to finish behing the bead with 2-3 tight wraps of hackle just to give it a denser look at the head). Over all though, a very good first attempt. Tie up another dozen in succession and you will be amazed at how your speed improves and how much better the twelfth fly looks compared to the first.

[monger]

That will work great. As long as it has a black tail you are in business. I've caught fish in the Bow with just about every body color...just need a black tail.

Longer tails are probably OK for running water as the fish are usually aggressively chasing the fly down.

You can even add 3 or 4 strands of flash to the tail

[bowbonehead]

Fish really don't care what it looks like .... flies are mostly tied to catch fly fisherman... the rattier they get the better they work

[professori]

Actually the way a fly is tied is not only a matter of aesthetics, it also affects the way a fly casts and fishes. A dry fly with uneven wings will spin and twist when being cast and that will kink and furl a leader in short order. A wet fly with incorrect proportions will often do the same under retrieve. That spinning can put fish down. And (IMHO) it never is a bad idea to improve your fly tying abilities. Regardless the old trope, "the rattier they get the better they fish", for almost every flyfisher I have ever met, the better looking the fly, the greater the chance it will get tied on the tippet. Not a single fish has ever been caught by the poorly tied, ratty-looking fly that was always in the box , not the water.