Fly Tying Inventory
Goat Bugger
Goat Bugger is a wooly bugger from Cheech of Fly Fish Food that uses Nature's Spirit African Goat Dubbing as a stand-in for seal, which is hard to get in the United States. The dubbing is fairly short and coarse with good translucency, so the blended body comes out buggy. It works as a bugger or a leech in stillwater, and Cheech notes it has caught fish from Argentina to Canada. Mix olive, black and orange versions to suit your local water. Tied here on a size 8 hook with a crawfish orange tail.
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Materials
6/0 UNI-Thread Waxed, rusty brown (olive dun for an olive version, black for a black version)
Rusty Brown · 6/0
Firehole Stones Matte Tungsten Beads, autumn, 3.5mm (9/64 inch) (dark olive or black for the other versions)
Autumn · 3.5mm
Nature's Spirit Premium Bugger Bou Marabou, crawfish orange (olive or black for the other versions)
Crawfish Orange
UTC Ultra Wire, copper, Brassie
Copper · Brassie
Nature's Spirit African Goat Dubbing, medium olive, the main body color (black for a black version)
Medium Olive
Nature's Spirit African Goat Dubbing, a fl. orange accent blended into the body (fl. yellow or fl. purple for the other versions).
Fl. Orange
Whiting High & Dry hackle, barred (or Eurohackle, Red Label, Hebert Miner, American hackle or a bugger pack)
How to Tie the Goat Bugger
- 1
Step 1
Before you tie, brush the medium olive and fluorescent goat dubbing together until they blend, using two dog slicker brushes.
The fibers clog a coffee grinder and do not separate well in a ziplock bag.
- 2
Step 2
Slide the bead onto the hook and mount the hook in the vise.
- 3
Step 3
Wrap lead wire around the shank directly behind the bead, trim the ends and push the wraps up against the bead.
- 4
Step 4
Start the thread behind the lead, trim the tag and wrap back to the bend.
- 5
Step 5
Prepare a marabou plume and tie it in at the bend for the tail. Bind the butts down and trim any excess.
- 6
Step 6
Tie in the copper wire at the base of the tail and leave it trailing off the back of the hook.
- 7
Step 7
Dub the thread with a loose strand of the blend and wrap it forward, adding more as needed, to build a shaggy body up to the bead.
- 8
Step 8
Tie in the hackle feather just behind the bead.
- 9
Step 9
Palmer the hackle back through the body in open turns to the base of the tail, and hold the feather tip there.
- 10
Step 10
Wrap the copper wire forward through the hackle, trapping the feather tip at the first turn. Trim the tip.
- 11
Step 11
Tie off the wire behind the bead and remove the excess.
- 12
Step 12
Whip finish behind the bead and trim the thread.
- 13
Step 13
Brush the body with a tying brush to free the fibers and give it a buggy look.
Watch Tying Tutorial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cnTlas8tO8
Credit: Cheech / Fly Fish Food