Shrek – Chatto’s viva
It seems that these days the term ‘VIVA’ has been given to the very popular and successful colour combination of light green or chartreuse and black.
Woolly buggers & variants
Olive epoxy bugger -silver TBH, UV spine & orange butt
Because of the lack of body dressing and the epoxy body this fly sinks quickly and the mirage tinsel spine that I have added flashes, in a way I am confident will be enticing, to stocked rainbows in particular, as the fly is being worked back to the boat or shore are very enticing.
Black epoxy bugger – silver TBH, UV spine & red butt
This fly is my take on one of the flies that was promoted by our 2018 Northern Ireland Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championships team guild as being a productive fly for use in the lakes that we fished there. Because of the lack of body dressing and the epoxy body this fly sinks quickly and apparently is great option for stocked rainbows in particular.
Red TBH CDC black fuzzel jig bugger
This fly is one of a series of 4 woolly bugger flies that I tie specifically for river fishing and if I only had one woolly bugger in my river fishing fly box this would be the one.
Silver TBH CDC black/red MKII fuzzel bugger
MKII woolly buggers without any weight are amongst my favourite top dropper flies when loch style fly fishing in lakes and these smaller versions with a silver tungsten bead are up there amongst my favourite river flies.
Silver TBH CDC black sparkle fuzzel bugger
This one of the 4 colours of TBH jig buggers that I carry in my river fly box. It’s a great buggy looking fly that sink well and swims hook point up so less likely to get hooked up on the bottom othan flies that swim hook point down.
Gold TBH CDC brown fuzzel jig bugger
These are the only woolly bugger type flies that I now carry in my river fly box. They are a step up from my earlier version in that I have added a CDC under wing directly behind the front hackle which I have reduced down to just one full turn. I tie them in sizes #10 and #12 in just 4 colours.
Metalic pink TBH brown woolly bugger
This is a variation of a bead head woolly bugger that has worked very well for me in Lake Eucumbene and Tantangara Reservoir on brown trout and on Lake Maroon for bass.
Humungus – black and gold
The tie of my fly is very close to David Downey’s fusion of those two flies which he describes as perhaps the best still water fly in the world. I use it as a top dropper attractor and for that reason use a brass rather than a tungsten bead. Particularly in water that is a little discoloured I am confident this fly brings a lot of fish to my team.
Todd’s Vampire (variant)
Based in Maple Ridge, B.C. Todd Oishi designed his “leach” (Vampires are also a blood sucker hence the name) fly with a tail of black rabbit fur or black marabou and with Vampire Vippy as the body. I have not been able to find any Vampire Vippy and tie my Vampires with UV straggle fritz.