Serious Fun @ JFFC June 2017 | Page 9

Step 9:

Advance the copper wire forward by wiggling it between the hackle fibbers without catching any fibers.

Tie of the hackle just behind the bead and break off the wire (Don’t cut wire with scissors rather "helicopter" the wire until it breaks).

Brush the front hackle fibers back and make a few wraps in front.

Then lastly make a 3 or 4 turn whip-finish and the fly is ready to fish.

Step 10:

Where and How to fish the fly?

You can dead-drift, swing, bottom-bounce, crawl, or fast­strip a Woolly Bugger. Given the right time and place, each of those techniques will take fish. If one doesn’t work, try another. Or combine two or more on the same retrieve. Barry Beck, writing in The Fly Fisherman, said, “The most productive technique is to pump [the Woolly Bugger] back with a slow, patient retrieve.”

A short video demonstrating the swimming action of a Wooly bugger underwater.