The Best Anglers Never Stop Learning

The Best Anglers Never Stop Learning

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Vanilla Bugger

Insect Species Icon None
Difficulty Icon Easy - 5-7 Min
Water Category Icon Coldwater, Warmwater

Tying Video

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Tying Recipe
  • Hook: Straight shank streamer hook
  • Head: Gold cone head
  • Weight: .025 non-toxic wire wrap
  • Tail: Marabou
  • Flash: Krystal flash
  • Body: Cream furry foam
  • Wire: Small copper wire
  • Hackle: Coq De Leon
  • Use wooly bugger or select marabou
  • Any bead or cone that fits the hook size will work
  • Use any flash you have
  • You can use a cream colored chenille instead of the furry foam
  • Use any wire ribbing you have
  • You can use grizzly hackle instead of the Coq De Leon
  • Try tying these in different sizes to match the baitfish in your rivers
  • I really like this same color combo but with Olive furry foam body
  • Try adding some flashabou to the front of the fly behind the cone

The wooly bugger probably has more variants than any other fly… for a reason! They just work! This one is unique because of the furry foam body and the Coq De Leon. The marabou tail with flash creates a great flowing movement. The furry foam body adds a layer of depth and texture to the fly while the CDL flows like hackle but has more colors and barring than regular hackle.
If your fishery has a shad kill this fly is a must to imitate dead/dying shad.

This fly has lots of weight in it, a cone head plus wire wrap shank will really help get the fly deep. This fly can be fished on a floating line with a longer leader to help it get deep. Using a sink tip will help you get this fly to the right depth when fishing in deeper water. Bass and trout are ambush predators, so keep this fly near good ambush points. Logs, boulders, cut banks, and deep pools are all locations to target with this fly.

Baitfish imitations are very versatile in how you fish them. Wounded baitfish won’t swim very fast and have an erratic movement. If fish are chasing baitfish or busting bait balls they are healthy swimming fish. You can vary your retrieve to fit what the fish are interested in. Long slow strips might work well one morning and later in the afternoon short quick strips might be best.

None

No hatch chart data available for this selection.

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