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Wooly Bully

tied by Dble Haul
Fly Type: Attractor Pattern,
Target Species: Pike,
Recommended Region: not available Northeast US, Alaska, Western Canada, Eastern Canada, Central Canada,
Imitation: General Baitfish,
Material List: This is another project fly that's worked for me with bigger pike over the past few seasons. It's tough to tell in the picture here, but the flash and blended movement of sheep hair, hackle, and marabou is great.

Wooly Bully
Hook: Orvis 9034 or equivalent, size 4/0
Thread: 3/0
Tail support: Bucktail
Tail support flash: Flashabou
Tail: Icelandic sheep hair
Tail flash: Flashabou
Sides: Three pairs of matched saddle hackles
Belly: Sparse Icelandic sheep hair
Wing: Sparse Icelandic sheep hair
Wing flash: Flashabou
Collar: Three layers of marabou
Head: Sculpin wool, packed and trimmed to shape
Eyes: Doll eyes

Upon recently purusing Barry Reynold's most recent book, Mastering Pike on the Fly, I noticed that one of his patterns (Barry's Woolhead Pike Fly) is similar to the Wooly Bully. The main differences are:

1. His fly has only one matched pair of hackles for the sides
2. He uses sheep hair for the tail only
3. He coats the underside of the wool head with silicone
4. He trims the head much closer and more triangulated

Great minds think alike (or at the least, similarly)?!

I only mention this because in this day and age some folks are particularly sensitive about the origin of patterns, and this was an honest co-evolution.


Tying Instructions: Materials are tied in the order listed. When tying in the sheep hair, remember that less is more and put it in sparsely.
Presentation Tips: This fly casts easier than the Bunny Split, but still requires a fairly heavy rod. The materials won't last too long after assault by toothy fish, but it's fun while it lasts. Besides pink/white, other color combos that have been good are chartruese/yellow, white/red, yellow/red, and yellow/white.

Best presentation is a steady cadence with about foot long strips of the flyline.

Current Species For This Pattern
Chain Pickerel (1 votes)
Largemouth Bass (2 votes)
Northern Pike (4 votes)
Panfish (1 votes)
Smallmouth Bass (1 votes)
Streamer (3 votes)