The MK 2 woolly buggers evolved from standard black and olive woolly buggers as a fly that would imitate an American frog that had bright red between its hind legs. The red is a great trigger point and I find the MK2 as a great generalist search pattern. In southern climes the hot spot is tied in any of the ‘roe’ colours and is widely accepted as one of the best early season search pattens.
Whilst not tied to imitate any natural food source it’s a very buggy looking fly with heaps of trigger points including the marabou tail, the soft body and front hackles as well a the skit itself. In particular I like to incorporate blood red or orange skirts which are suggestive in the case of a red skirt as bleeding from around the base of the tail or the claws depending on what the fly is taken as or in the case of an orange skirt as a fish roe.
There are a few flies that I have absolute confidence in and consequently have no hesitation in tying them on if I am in unknown territory and am up for a bit of prospecting. This fly is really a merging of two of them and it is so consistent that its has earned its own place amongst my top 10 or so trout flies. The two flies that were merged to form this fly were of course the bibio and the standard black woolly bugger. Whilst the bibio still holds its own place in my top 10 or so trout flies this bibio bugger has displaced the standard black woolly bugger.
In recent years I have found that other than the traditional woolly bugger of around 50 mm in length there is also a demand for very small woolly buggers. In fact I would go as far as to say that in most of the fisheries that I haunt ‘mini woolly buggers’ of from 25 mm to 30 mm in length are often more effective than the larger versions on which they are based. I have narrowed down the mini woolly bugger selection that I carry to just brown, black, black with a red thread head and olive versions.
‘I switched to a slime line and put a Black Straggle Fritz Taddy on the point, kept the Damsel on the dropper and, due to the weed, discarded the top dropper completely. At the end of one retrieve I had a cracking take on the hang and bullied a near 5lb rainbow into the net.’
This fly was out of left field as far as I am concerned and when first introduced to it had no great expectation of it finding its way into my fly box. I was wrong. The bright tinsel body certainly stands out and rather than spooking fish as I expected it seems to trigger a response from trout particularly in “smelt” water or slightly discolored or tannin water.
A similar fly is also known as a “Bloody Mary” but I use the name ‘Fiona’ (Shrek’s lady) as this fly is the same fly as the Shrek just different colored materials. Both are basically Woolly Buggers by design and just as the emerald green is a great option in the Shrek the red works well in combination with the black tail of the Fiona.
The finished fly has a sort of “halo” of loose fibres around the fuzzeled part of the fly and this can be very effective. I tie two versions. The first has no hackle and the second incorporates a soft hackle just behind the bead if a bead is incorporated in the tie but otherwise behind the eye of the hook. Both work well in different situations.
This Flash Harry variant is one of those flies I’ll always give a swim particularly if the water is a bit discoloured or if its windy and rough. I like to fish it on a fast sinking line either ripped or with a stop and start jerky retrieve or roly-poly. Chuck in plenty of pauses in your retrieve and make sure you hang the fly before recasting. This fly also fishes well across species and is attractive to Bass, EP’s. I carry smaller versions in red, chartreuse, gold and root with black or olive tails.
Vern Barby’s Magoo is a very special fly and a great variation of a woolly bugger. Vern designed this woolly bugger variation specifically for use in ‘smelt’ rich Lake Purumbeet in western Victoria. It’s worth a swim in any water where ‘smelt’ whether they be Galixia, Gambesia or other small fish are on the trouts menu. In size #10 and #12 sizes they are also good damsel imitations.
