Tying Buggers

[stimulator2]

I have tied Buggers for years with all kinds of materail. I do not fish them much but do tie them in all colors and have recently started fishing them more.So how do you like yours the best i have tied them with cone heads ,i have put a gold rib through them,rubber legs on them, some flash in the tail and i have caught fish on all variations.But in ya'lls opinion what works the best .I almost always put a conehead on mine now.

 

[jaybo41]

The color I have had the most success with is black and olive. Black tail, olive chenille body, with black hackle and black hackle at the collar. For the most part, I like weight on my buggers. I'll use either a cone or bed along with a few wraps of non lead wire for a little extra weight or a tungsten bead with no wraps. I usually don't bother with legs but I have used Estaz for a body in place of chenille. Depending on the marabou, I'll sometimes add some black bear hair in the tail to keep it propped up a little better.

I've tied leeches that are pretty close to buggers with marabou stripped from the feather to build the body and tease it out. Simple pattern: Hook, thread, non lead wire, bead, marabou, thread. Leeches can be close to buggers depending on how they are tied, but I'm not going to detail those beyond what I've mentioned since they would technically be a leach and not a bugger.

 

[bigjim5589]

I don't think it can really be as simple as which variation works the best. Since it's a style and there are so many possibilities that can all be productive at any given time, it would be difficult to narrow it down to just one. I've also tied them just about anyway they can be tied.

I even bought the book, "Woolly Wisdom" by Gary Soucie which covers them well.

I also use black, & olive a lot, plus white and chartreuse, or combinations. Actually, I like some flash in mine, and primarily tie them weighted in some form, but can't say I have a preference for weight, as I'll add beads, cones, lead wire along the shank or barbell eyes. And, I'll tie some with no weight too. All have some use depending on conditions.

Doesn't really answer your question, but I like to have some variety for when it's needed.

Since buggers can imitate Leeches, and it's already been mentioned, one variation I particularly like is an all black using ostrich herl in the tail. I've tied a Clouser variation with nothing but ostrich herl & some flash for a long time which is also an excellent leech, so started using the ostrich for buggers too.

 

[JoJer]

I really like a red bead head- glass, plastic or metal- on a black or olive bugger.
A lot of my earliest buggers drew short strikes because the tails were too long. Now I like to keep a few in the box with a shorter tail that's tied in more toward the middle of the hook.

 

[stl_geoff]

olive tail, olive crystal cheinlle body, grizzly hackle, orange thread/head. its the best color combo i've found yet

 

[silver creek]

Before the feather extension craze, I bought a pound of emu feathers from the Double D Emu Ranch. Now I have a lifetime supply of feathers for Emu Buggers.

 

[jaybo41]

Forgot to add that I add flash to my buggers, always in the tail.

Those are some nice looking buggers Silver!

 

[stenacron]

I tie/fish "buggers" quite a bit... my favorite all around pattern is a Peacock Bugger, and I tie 'em as follows;

--Hook: Streamer, size 6-12
--Bead: standard brass bead, sized to hook
--Thread: Black, UTC 70
--Tail: Black Marabou
--Body: 6 strands of peacock herl (twisted into a rope)
--Hackle: dun (or grizzly) saddle hackle
--Ribbing: fine gold wire, counter wrapped

Very versatile fly... imitates a little bit of everything, and exactly nothing! Kills on dead drift or down and across.

 

[bigtel]

I tie/fish "buggers" quite a bit... my favorite all around pattern is a Peacock Bugger, and I tie 'em as follows;

--Hook: Streamer, size 6-12
--Bead: standard brass bead, sized to hook
--Thread: Black, UTC 70
--Tail: Black Marabou
--Body: 6 strands of peacock herl (twisted into a rope)
--Hackle: dun (or grizzly) saddle hackle
--Ribbing: fine gold wire, counter wrapped

Very versatile fly... imitates a little bit of everything, and exactly nothing! Kills on dead drift or down and across.

like that will do some today i think

terry

 

[wt bash]

I haven't tied or fished a bugger in a while but if I was it would be Stenacron's peacock bugger.

 

[jaybo41]

That's a killer looking bugger stenacron. Very nice tie.

 

[txshane]

Love the peacock bugger too. Anytime you can put peacock herl on a fly, it's a good thing.

I like a little crystal flash in the tail. Biggest key for me is weight. I like a bead head or a cone head AND lead wire wrapped over at least half of the hook shank underneath the chenille or peacock. Gotta get 'em to sink.

 

[BigCliff]

Very nice peacock bugger indeed.

I frequently tie buggers with wrapped flashabou for the body. Most anything fuzzy or fluffy impedes the sink rate of a given fly, and chenille is inherently more fuzzy than flashabou. If you plan it right, you can tie in flash on both sides of the tail, and using full strands of flashabou, have enough for the body as well.

Some of my favorite color combos-

Blue flash with black hackle and tail
Chartreuse flash with olive hackle and tail
Silver holo with grey
Gold holo with tan

Side note, since you don't have the chenille protecting the hackle stem, its absolutely vital to add a wire rib on these mylar wrapped buggers.