Bow River Bugger

Bow River Bugger
Tying Instructions
Materials:

Notes:

Bow River fishing guide, Peter Chenier, developed this pattern in the 1980s in Calgary. It is a wooly bugger with a muddler style head. It can be fished on a dead drift or as a streamer for a minnow or sculpin imitation. As a dead drift, the bow bugger is most often presented at the bottom of the stream as a muddler should be. The head is packed loosely so as to reduce floatation and is heavily weighted. Coneheads give the pattern a nice sleek look as well as some additional weight. Within fast streams, you might add some split shot to get it down. In George Daniel's book, "Strip-Set", he illustrates a Bow River Bugger rig that was designed by Greg Bricker of Freestone Outfitters in Bozeman, MT. Here the suspender indicator is placed equal to the depth of the water column. Greg uses 1/0 and B size split shot about 6-12 inches from the fly depending on how high you want the Bow Bugger to ride above the stream surface. Most popular colors are Black, Olive, and White. The tail should consist of two tips from Marabou plume or blood marabou. Use 3-4 strands of Flashabou only to keep the flash to a minimum. The hackle should be sized about two sizes less than the hook gap due to the chenille body that the hackle wraps around. Keep about 1/3 of the hook shank clear in front of the body to spin the deer hair.

 

Variations:


Bow River Bugger, Olive
Bow River Bugger, Olive


Materials:

Bow River Bugger, Brown
Bow River Bugger, Brown


Materials:

Conehead Bow River Bugger, Black
Bow River Bugger, Black


Materials:

Conehead Bow River Bugger, White
Bow River Bugger, White


Materials:

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