Ribbing a Wooly Bugger

[H Dot Verseman 0]

I prefer tying my woolies the following

 

1. tie in tail

 

2. tie in rib (wire, flash, whatever)

 

3. tie in chenille after stripping off about a half inch to expose the threads.

 

4. wind thread to the eye

 

5. wrap chenille forward to the eye

 

6. tie off chenille

 

7. tie hackle by the butt at the eye

 

8. palmer hackle back towards read of fly, taking 2 turns at the head

 

9. bring hackle feather up, cross rib over snugly (if done correct, you only need one turn over the hackle)

 

10. wind rib as fast as possible towards eye, not worrying if i trap hackle fibers (going faster works, going slow = death to hackle fibers)

 

11. tie off rib.

 

12. form head or thread collar on fly with thread/dubbing

 

13. whip finish

 

14. grab hackle tip at rear of fly, and it pulls off very easily.

[troutsmasher 0]

I wondered if I was just trying too hard or thinking about it too much. I've tried both wrap and counterwrap methods. From what I could tell, i'm getting pretty much the same result with both. Wire does seem to "work in" a little better, but don't always want the added weight. From what you guys are telling me, I think i'm probably doing alright. I'll keep practicing and I think it'll work out.

 

Thanks for the replies,

 

Rob

 

Rob, it's easy to over-think these things at the vise. Just keep in mind that fish don't care how the hackle looks. They'll willingly take a bite of the ugliest bugger you could possibly tie.

[flytire 0]

put 10 tyers in a room and each one will probably tie it differently. theres no right or wrong in tying them.

[riffleriversteelheadslayer 0]

tie a dozen and let the fish judge em

[JSzymczyk 0]

I happily tied and fished woolly buggers for about 2-1/2 decades in the "traditional" way--- tying the hackle in by the tip at the bend of the hook and palmering it forward, tying off at the head and good-to-go. I didn't bother counter ribbing the hackle as I just didn't have any problems with breakage by fish. Then a while ago I had the idea to do basically what H Dot V explained--- tie in a ribbing wire at the bend, tie in the hackle by the butt end at the head, wrap it backwards, then wrap the wire forward- and I really liked it. I tied about 60 woollys that way one night and that's how I do it ever since. THEN, I saw Charlie Craven's book detailing that method. It's pretty much bullet proof, takes hardly any more time than before, and by wiggling the wire I don't trap many hackle fibers at all. And Hey, a little wiggle in the butt is always good. I don't have any worries about how long it takes me to tie a fly, so I don't care about an "extra step" or whatever.

[vicrider 0]

So, the one thing it seems I'm consistently picking up here is the hackle should be wound with longer hackle (butt) in front and tip of hackle in rear. I've been doing it opposite that and maybe that's why I'm not happy with my buggers compared to store bought ones I've got. The other thing I have trouble with is getting hackle to slope backward on chenille body. Maybe that's because I'm winding the hackle the opposite way of what everyone else seems to be doing. Being old doesn't mean I learned things right years ago, or remember them right. Now I have to go out and put some of these things to work.

 

I am so happy with the pics and tying descrips of so many flies in this forum. Hopefully by next summer when I make my CO trip to fish with some guys who know that water I'll have some of my own flies that will look good enough to fool another fisherman into thinking it's a good fly. Maybe it might even fool a fish then. Actually, I find the stockers in tailwaters are pretty stupid for the most part, and the warmwater species just aren't as picky so that's a good place to use up the rejects too good to cut off and start over but not good enough to let the pros I'll be fishing with see.

[phg 0]

Tying the hackle tip in at the butt of the fly, and winding forward will almost automatically make the hackle barbs slope toward the rear. I generally stroke them back as I wind, but it isn't really necessary. Tying the hackle butt in at the head of the fly and palmering back should have the same effect.

[JSzymczyk 0]

I don't worry about which way the hackle "slopes" on a woolly. The fish have not seemed to care all these years.

 

Yes, it is accepted most of the time that on a woolly, the butt end of the hackle should be at the head of the fly (longer feather fibers at the front, not at the tail).

 

Makes for a more visually pleasing fly, but again I doubt the fish would care all that much.

[Simplejack 0]

The the wire isn't really needed?

When I tie the woolly bugger, everything looks good until I wrap the stupid wire and it just makes it not as neat when finished.

If a fishes tooth was to break the hackle and ruin the fly, I would think the same thing would happen even with the wire on it, just not as much. If the hackle broke, it would hang off the fly about 1/4" to 1/2" with the wire, so either way the fly would be ruined anyway correct?

[flytire 0]

i'd still fish that wooly with a broken hackle. sometines the shaggier the fly the better

 

i wrap/embed the hackle in the valleys of the chenille and have no problems with breakage of the hackle

 

try wrapping the wire quickly through the hackle. it wont trap as many fibers of the hackle down it pushes them away

 

watch hans tie one

 

 

[Simplejack 0]

I seen that video before and probably all the woolly bugger videos on YouTube. I like the profile of that woolly bugger in that video.

I tried wrapping the hackle backwards like shown in that video, but my hackle just popped out from the wire and unraveled and I had to tear it apart.. Being held in by just 1 wrap of the wire just doesn't seem very secure, so I usually tie in everything from the back end of the hook and finish toward the eye.

I started out wrapping in the valleys of the chenille when i started tying woolly buggers, but it just doesn't look right for me, so I started doing 3 to 4 wrap bodies instead. I was getting too much taper in the hackle, so it just didn't look right. If I had more of a even hackle, I think the tighter wraps in the valley would work good. I'm sure that is just personal preference though. I tie more for myself then I do for the fish

I will try wrapping faster and post my results in here if it turns out.

 

I also think the angle of the hackle when it's being wrapped has alot to do with how the wire catches the hackle.

The angle of the wraps and the angle of the wire when crossing each other, but I could be wrong. I also don't like how the wire splits the hackle on the head of the fly..

[Old Hat 0]

Here is an SBS I did a while back for Hatches on tying a bugger.

 

http://hatchesmagazine.com/blogs/Hatches/2011/06/02/the-copper-and-black-bugger-by-carl-e-sanders/

 

Of course there are many ways to do it as you can see from the multitude of responses.

 

Rob: If you need a bugger that sinks slowly, it really is not the the small wire rib you need to worry about, it is the material you use for the body and the type of hackle you use. A denser, less webby hackle will help as well as a synthetic dubbing for the body. Most, not all, but most chenille is like a sponge and once it gets waterlogged will sink the fly rapidly. This property of chenille was one of the reasons it was so popular for use on the bugger and many classic steelhead wet flies.

[Simplejack 0]

Here is an SBS I did a while back for Hatches on tying a bugger.

 

http://hatchesmagazine.com/blogs/Hatches/2011/06/02/the-copper-and-black-bugger-by-carl-e-sanders/

 

Of course there are many ways to do it as you can see from the multitude of responses.

 

Thank you for that link. That solved my issue

I still tied everything at the back of the hook and finished everything at the eye, but the stripping of the one side of the hackle solved my problems.

Here is the first quicky fly I tied using that new method. It's pretty rough and the tail is not that good, but I will be buying different marabou here real soon and tying a much better one. I did a faster wrap with the wire and actually, I didn't have to pluck any fibers out from the wire. Combination of the feather stripping and faster wrap made the world of difference. Thank you

 

I will post a finished one in another thread once I tie my best.

 

 

[flytire 0]

Being held in by just 1 wrap of the wire just doesn't seem very secure, so I usually tie in everything from the back end of the hook and finish toward the eye.

 

 

try 2-3 wraps of wire instead

 

your fly in the post above is a very good tie and shouldnt need any additional improvement

[Old Hat 0]

Simplejack, glad it helped.

 

Your bugger turned out great!