Woolly Bugger History
Since the subject came up in a couple of posts, here is a little history.
A Harrisburg, Pennsylvania fly tier, Russell Blessing tied the first "Buggers". He added a marabou tail to a woolly worm fly, to help suggest a swimming movement as the fly was retrieved in the water. He found that even if fished dead-drift the fly still had movement. The woolly worm is a very old fly that can be found in Izaak Walton's 1653 book
'The Compleat Angler'. Russell's original Woolly Bugger had a black marabou tail, and a black hackled olive chenille body, (just like our Viva Woolly Bugger). He had designed it to fish the small mouth bass in the streams near his home. He had been trying to imitate the dobsonfly lava. Back in 1967 on a hot August afternoon flyfishing journalist Barry Beck was having a hard time getting the fish to bite on the Little Lehigh River in Pennsylvania, USA. Other flyfishermen nearby were also having the same problem, that is all except one, Russ Blessing. In a 30 minute period he netted four nice trout. Barry went over and asked what fly he was using. Barry was shocked to find it was a streamer. This type of fly normally was not very productive on the Lehigh River and especially in August. Russ, a true gentleman fly fisherman who was always willing to share his knowledge of fly-fishing and fly-tying gave Barry one of his Woolly Buggers to try. Barry's luck changed and he started to catch trout. Barry was so impressed that when he met Russ in the parking area just as he was going home he asked for more information about the fly.
Barry published an article on Russell Blessing's wondrous Woolly Bugger in 1984. The rest is history. It became so popular that it is now an American standby. Woolly Buggers catch trout, bass, and salmon in both Atlantic and Pacific rivers, steelhead, Arctic char, northern pike, bluegills and even carp. It would not be an exaggeration to say that there is hardly a fish that swims that could not be caught with a Woolly Bugger. This wide-ranging success is due to the fact that these flies can be used to imitate a variety of fish food forms, including baitfish, crustaceans, insect nymphs salamanders and leeches. To achieve this chameleon status, Woolly Buggers are tied in green, red, olive, gray, grizzly, brown, black, yellow, white, and purple and in all combinations of these colors. This fly can be fished near the surface, or with the addition of weight it is often fished deep. Obviously the Woolly Bugger may not be a glamorous fly, but it deserves to be in everyone's fly box for all kinds of fly fishing, from warmwater to saltwater. Russ Blessing retired in 1996 and when asked what he now did with all his spare time he replied, "I fish."
Chalk one up for another Pennsylvania Fisherman!
