The Woolly Bugger is an artificial fly that fits into the streamer category. It is a highly popular fly
for both fresh and saltwater species of fish. It is popular for trout, bass, pike, salmon, steelhead
and many other freshwater species. It imitates a leech, hellgrammite, and can even fool fish into
taking it for a minnow or baitfish.
We stock the Woolly Buggers in plain and bead head versions and call them both the Bugger
Leeches. The original Woolly Bugger fly pattern is thought to have been first tied by Russell
Blessing, of Pennsylvania, back in 1967. Some say it is a variation of the Woolly Worm fly but
even if it is, the Woolly Worm fly is thought to be a takeoff on the British palmer fly.
It is considered one of the most productive fly patterns that exist. It is sold by just about every fly
shop in the World and for good reasons. The Woolly Bugger Fly catches fish. We have several
sizes and colors of the Woolly Bugger fly at Perfect Fly, and sell them under the trout, freshwater
and steelhead sections of the website.
The Woolly Bugger is a very versatile fly. All of our Perfect fly versions have some flash added to
it. We think the very small amount of flash increases its performance. This helps attract the
attention of trout and steelhead as well as bass and other freshwater species.
The Woolly Bugger has a lively marabou feather tail that moves in the water. The marabou
greatly adds to the movement of the fly in the water. The fly was originally designed by Mr.
Blessing for smallmouth bass.
There are several different ways to fish the Woolly Bugger fly.Trout and steelhead anglers tend to
fish it down and across on the swing. It is also very effective fished like most other streamers
using a strip retrieve. Allowing the fly to pause between a sequence of strips seems to help most
of the time The hackle twitches, the tail of the fly flares out and the fish grab it.
Copyright James Marsh 2013