Skinny Bugger fly pattern recipe
Hook: Streamer hook 6-12 (shown size 8)
Thread: Black, 6/0.
Body: Lead wire, UV brown Semperfli straggle string, and copper wire
Tail: Brown marabou with rootbeer Krystal Flash.
Hackle: Brown grizzly saddle hackle
Start by putting 12 to 14 wraps of lead wire sized to your preference. Ideally the lead wire would provide enough weight to give this fly some undulation as you retrieve it. Put down a thread base and then tie in the following in order:
- Wispy marabou tail about a hook shank long
- Two strands of Krystal Flash on either side of the tail
- Small copper wire to wrap over the hackle
- Straggle string for the body
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Once all this is tied in, move your thread to the head. Leave a gap at the head to avoid crowding the eye of the hook.
Wrap the straggle string in touching wraps forward. Try to keep the flash in the string teased out as you wrap. Tie it over behind the eye.
Tie in the hackle at the eye. Strip off a few hackle fibers near the tail of the hackle to get a good tie-in point. Take one full wrap at the eye and then wide wraps toward the tail. When you reach the tail, take your copper wire and catch in your hackle and then reverse wrap the wire forward (opposite direction that you wrapped the hackle). This locks in your hackle and protects it from fish teeth.
Tie the wire off at the eye and remove excess. Build a small thread head and whip finish. Coat the head with head cement or superglue.
How to fish it
We are getting into the time of year when trout are bulking up for the winter. Think of it like bears and hyperphagia. They start to be aggressive with a variety of patterns and the “match the hatch” time of year is about done. Stillwater guru Phil Rowley says they start looking for the bread and butter food items. Leeches, like this pattern imitates, are big protein rewards all year long, but trout can really key in on them in the fall.
This pattern is great in lakes and rivers both, and the wispy tail gives it incredible action. The UV in the straggle string is a big attractor for hungry trout. Do not forget to tie a few in smaller sizes.
Fish this with slow strips on a floating line, or with faster strips on a sink-tip or full-sink line. It can also be fished under an indicator.
