Simplified Fly Tying: Wooly Bugger
Tying a Wooly Bugger is a foundational step in both fly tying and fly fishing. If you’re just starting out, you’ll learn some essential fly tying skills that will help you build many other flies. Plus, once you get the hang of it, you’ll have all the Wooly Buggers you could ever want.
To tie a Wooly Bugger, we only need a handful of materials and tools. And once you’re done, you’ll have a good chance at catching a fish on a fly you tied- one of the most gratifying feelings in all of fly fishing.
Let’s get into it.
Wooly Bugger Materials
The materials needed to tie a Wooly Bugger are pretty straightforward:
- Long Shank Streamer Hook
- I like Daiichi 2220, but others will work
- Marabou
- Chenille
- Saddle Hackle
- Bead Head (optional)
- Flash (optional)
One of the best things about Wooly Buggers is that these materials can vary in size, shape, color, etc. These are the core materials from which Wooly Buggers are created but from here, let your creativity go wild.
If you’re just starting out, I would recommend following a traditional recipe. As you get better at tying, you’ll feel more comfortable taking more freedoms to deviate from the original. You can switch up hooks, chenille and hackle materials, throw on different types of weight, anything you’d like. If it looks like a bugger and looks edible to a fish, it’ll work- the details don’t matter all that much.
To start things off, check out or video on Tying a Wooly Bugger.
Wooly Bugger Fly Tying Steps
Once we got our hook in the vise, we can follow these steps:
Tie in Marabou Tail
Measure out a hunk of marabou about the length of the shank of the hook and tie it in towards the bend of the hook. For smaller Buggers, a single plume works well. For larger buggers, I like to double or even triple them up.
It’s important here to take a second to measure out the length of the marabou. When I first started, I haphazardly tied it in and the results still caught fish, but just looked off. Measuring the length of the marabou tail will help with building consistent Buggers.
After that tail is tied in, this is the spot to add flash if you’d like. The amount of flash is up to you. Add a single strand for subtlety, 4-5 for grabbing attention.
Tie in Hackle Feather
Take your hackle feather and tie in the tip of it close to your tail. Although not vital, the best Wooly Bugger hackle fibers are just a little bit longer than the hook gap. If our fibers are too long or too short, it messes with the proportions of the fly and looks messy.
The fish won’t care all that much, but I’ve found that correct hackle fiber lengths do play a big role in the action of the fly. So it’s worth taking a minute to find the right feather to get the right look to your Wooly Bugger.
Wooly Bugger Hackle, Saddle Hackle, and Schlappen can all work as hackle feathers- they all have different lengths so be conscious of which you choose! If you can find it, Wooly Bugger hackle offers the most fibers that will fit a variety of hooks.
Tie in and Wrap Chenille
This step is simple. Tie in your chenille close to where you tied in the hackle feather and wrap it evenly along the shank. Make sure the entire shank is covered and you’re good to go.
Leave a little bit of space at the eye of the hook so we have plenty of room to whip finish.
Wrap Hackle Feather
Similar to how we wrapped the chenille, grab a hold of your hackle feather and wrap it evenly along the shank.
Make sure the spacing between your wraps is as even as you can get it. The hackle may want to go in a different direction than you want, but “preening” (pinching the fibers backwards) the hackle goes a long way in making sure they’re pointing in the right direction.
You can mess around with the spacing of the wraps. The closer you wrap, the more material will be on the hook and will give your fly a different look than wider wraps. Do what you like, just make sure they’re nice and even.
Leave a touch of space toward the eye of the hook so we have room to finish the fly nice and cleanly. It’s tempting to want to wrap as much material as you can, but you’ll end up crowding the hook eye and make it difficult to tie it on your leader. Leave about a hook eyes (a couple millimeters) length of space and you’ll be good.
Whip Finish
Once all our materials are tied it, give the fly a couple good whip finishes and boom! We got our Wooly Bugger.
You have the option here to add some glue for extra security, but it’s not necessary if you got some good whip finish knots securely tied in there.
I’ve typically finished Wooly Buggers with 2 or 3 whip finishes without issue. If I know I’ll be fishing them around rocks, I may add the super glue for additional strength, but the good ol’ whip finish will do the trick.
Tips for Tying Wooly Buggers
As I’ve tied hundreds of Wooly Buggers over the years, I’ve learned a handful of tips that go a long way:
Clean Hook Eyes
A Wooly Bugger can be fished a million different ways, but it can’t be fished if you can’t tie it to your tippet.
I’ve overcrowded the eye of the hook more times than I’m willing to admit and even after years of tying, I still do it on occasion. But I’ve learned to be better about giving plenty of room towards the eye of the hook so we have plenty of space to tie it on and actually fish it.
There are ways to work around a crowded hook eye, but it’s best practice to avoid it as much as you can. Give yourself plenty of room and you’ll spend more time with the fly in the water and less time digging out space so you can actually fish your fly.
Confidence Building Buggers
The best Wooly Buggers are the ones you believe will catch fish. I’ve tied many buggers that just don’t look right to me and I’ll end up starting them over.
It’s not necessarily that the fish will care if something is off, but it will matter to you. A Wooly Bugger that just doesn’t look right will be left in the box, which is not a great place for a Wooly Bugger to be.
As you complete your fly, think “Do I really think this will work?” If the answer is anything other than a resounding “HELL YEAH” then start over until you get that feeling!
Check out more in What Makes a Good Wooly Bugger?