How The WOOLY BUGGER Became the Most Popular Fishing Fly!

In this video, Brian Flechsig from Mad River Outfitters breaks down the Wooly Bugger and how it became the most popular fishing fly of all time.
Shop Wooly Buggers here: www.madriveroutfitters.com/c-...
Our funny Wooly Bugger Video: • How the WOOLY BUGGER B...
~
Subscribe for more fly fishing content: bit.ly/302hEHC
Support the channel, pick something up from our shop: www.madriveroutfitters.com
MRO Stickers: www.madriveroutfitters.com/c-...
MRO Merch: www.madriveroutfitters.com/c-...
www.madriveroutfitters.com
/ madriveroutfitters
/ madriveroutfitters
/ madriverout
Have a question about this video or anything fly fishing? We're happy to help!
Send Mad River Outfitters an email or give us a call:
Email: [e-mail]
Phone: [phone]
Shot and Edited by Dev Fogle
www.devfogle.com
Welcome to Mad River Outfitters, hosted by professional fly fishing guide, Brian Flechsig and his team of fly fishing guides at Mad River Outfitters. On this channel you will find honest fly fishing education, fly fishing tutorials and product reviews. We're passionate about fly fishing and that's what we hope to share here. More information about who we are can be found on our website (www.madriveroutfitters.com) and also on our Instagram (@madriveroutfitters).
#FlyFishing #Fishing

[@sarablessingdavis2841]

Thanks for giving credit to my Grandpop, Russell Blessing! Would love to tell the story about how it came out!

[@Madriveroutfitters]

Come on over to the shop and let’s make a video. Or we could get you on a Zoom as a guest? Call or e-mail Brian at the shop. Would be super cool!

[@sarablessingdavis2841]

That would be wonderful! I will send an email, thank you!

[@goldentwilight1944]

Great tribute to the woolly bugger. I caught my first fly-caught fish on one, and it also caught my biggest trout.

[@Madriveroutfitters]

Thanks for being here.

[@CR-ji4ub]

I just got home from Bennett. Great memories there, as well as Montauk State park in Missouri.

[@Madriveroutfitters]

Thanks for watching.

[@wingman8447]

I tie a mini bugger in a 14. Copper bead in olive. Works amazingly well. Good vid. Thanks

[@Madriveroutfitters]

Thanks for watching.

[@SmallmouthAddict]

As a part time smallmouth bass guide here in Michigan, I can confidently claim that a weightless olive wooly bugger fished off an intermediate or sinking line is probably the most productive set up for numbers of fish on my home river.. Also very easy to cast, and is a great fly to teach beginners. Fish it slow, fish it fast, it doesn't matter. Girlfriend pulled a tank this year while learning ~21in on a simple size 4.

[@Madriveroutfitters]

Awesome. Thanks for being here!

[@kogabear1]

The wooly bugger and royal coachman are my two favorite flies to tie and fish. Both seem to have endless variations, size and colors. I’ve tied them from nymph size to large salmon flys. Fun video thanks.

[@Madriveroutfitters]

Thanks for watching.

[@matthadenmusic]

i not only always have buggers on me, i actually ALWAYS have an entire, two sided bugger box in my pack. Bead and cone heads on one side, lead only on the other. You can just do so much with them.

[@Madriveroutfitters]

Agreed! Everyone should have a “bugger box”. Thanks for watching.

[@waltmichaels6395]

Great update on a fly fave……even better fly though! Thanks Pop Blessing !!!!!!

[@Madriveroutfitters]

Thanks for watching.

[@user-yz1fj6oo1m]

Great rundown on the wooly bugger. I caught 11 trout at Bennett Springs in 2 hours a couple of weeks ago on a black bead head bugger. The next day I caught 3 small bass and several bluegill on the same fly. A versatile fly.

[@Madriveroutfitters]

Thanks for watching.

[@Wildtr0ut]

Nicely done...thanks for the update.

[@Madriveroutfitters]

Thanks for watching. Wanted to clear up the confusion.

[@chunkylover54]

i had some extra material after making some bigger flies last week and decided to tie up a bugger and I landed the biggest fish of the trip with it. a size 4 bugger caught a tank of a smallie off my parents dock after breakfast haha good times

[@Madriveroutfitters]

Nice work. Thanks for watching.

[@ethanovenell2173]

the woolly bugger is by far my favorite fly to both tie and fish. the variations are endless. my favorites are the dumbbell or bead chain eye woolly buggers in olive, schlappin buggers, 3x long olive or brown, and the traditional in black.

[@Madriveroutfitters]

Never ending.....Thanks for watching.

[@carolinawoods-n-water4392]

My favorite fly of all time!

[@Madriveroutfitters]

As it should be! Thanks for watching.

[@nate5811]

Nice shout out to Bennett springs state park in Lebanon missouri. Yeah it’s a trout park but I’ve fished all sorts of larger world known trout rivers like the white river but you can’t beat Bennett spring for catching trout. You have all types of water through the park from quick moving water, to deeper holes to shallow rock beds with pockets to deep bath tub like water to ‘just below the dam’ waters. All accessible by either wading or bank fishing. Sure the trout are stockers but a trout is a trout once it’s on the hook. They still eat at the hatch and all sorts of natural bugs down there. Missouri dept of conservation does a tremendous job of raising trout and keeping the sizes up for great catches. No small trout at the parks. Missouri doesn’t have native trout anymore so they do a great job with what we have. Yes there are rivers outside the park with wild but not native trout so don’t knock Missouri trout parks until you’ve visited one. Great vidya mr. Fleischig keep up the great work you do, hope I spelled your name right.

[@Madriveroutfitters]

Thanks for watching. Mr. Flechsig grew up fishing at Bennett Springs.

[@nate5811]

@@Madriveroutfitters very cool! headed there the 19th!

[@CR-ji4ub]

⁠​⁠@@nate5811I just got back from Bennett. We did well. I will say that it was a little tougher since they shut down the hatchery.

[@nate5811]

That’s true. Growing pains. It will be really nice once it’s done in a few years.

[@edwardsieferman1205]

Couldn't agree more. I live in western Indiana; no trout in our streams but LOTS of smallies. I never throw anything other than the Wooly Bugger. I prefer olive (to replicate sculpin), orange (to mimic crayfish), and black, which stands in for either a hellgrammite OR a leech...

[@Madriveroutfitters]

Hard to beat that! Thanks for watching.

[@markt5450]

Do you drift it or fish it like a streamer?

[@edwardsieferman1205]

@@markt5450 Personally I have never drifted one; I always fish them as a streamer. With that said, I was intrigued by the last Wooly Bugger pattern Brian displayed that was tied to the jig head.

[@Madriveroutfitters]

@@edwardsieferman1205 Try drifting or jigging!

[@Madriveroutfitters]

@@markt5450 stay tuned, more to come.

[@OscarOverlanding]

Thank you!

[@Madriveroutfitters]

Thanks for watching.

[@brian1204]

So, the wooly worm is a Blessing? 😉
I first started fly fishing in Colorado around 1968 or 69, and I had heard about the wooly worm and started tying them. Didn’t hear about a wooly bugger until the early 80’s (after college, first job, etc and getting back into fishing).
A black ice chenille bugger caught my first flyrod smallmouth bass.

[@Madriveroutfitters]

Thanks for watching! Much appreciated.

[@OldVetUSN72]

That’s about the same time I first saw it in Pa. Before that in from late 60’s on was fishing wooly worms, with a large egg sac of glo bug yarn. They worked good for the Cohos that were being stocked in Lake Erie back then. Great video Brian!

[@Madriveroutfitters]

@@OldVetUSN72 thanks for watching.

[@dmm3124]

When is Brian's book coming out? Or, did I miss it.

[@Madriveroutfitters]

You’d have to check with him on that. We haven’t heard anything lately.

[@deankrueger7178]

Sooooo, American made???? No way! Lol. Thanks for the great update/ correction!!!

[@Madriveroutfitters]

Yes.....American made.....or at least American designed. Thanks for watching.

[@jtmarshall]

I went to yellowstone with black wooley buggers and didnt catch a thing..
well except the fly fishing fever.. i caught that alright lmao

[@Madriveroutfitters]

Thanks for watching.

[@fairladyz9957]

What size should I get for a 4wt rod

[@Madriveroutfitters]

The size that the fish want to eat…..as Brian would say! Feel free to call or e-mail the shop with any further questions. They are always happy to help.

[@kansasscout4322]

Bennett Springs!

[@Madriveroutfitters]

Where Brian caught his first trout at age 7!

[@andykjohnsonjohnson7622]

👍🎣

[@Madriveroutfitters]

Thanks for watching.

[@sigurdurmarolafsson4183]

For a long time it ( or just about the same fly was called a " dog nobbler" here in Europe.

[@Madriveroutfitters]

Thanks for sharing!

[@johnnylightning1491]

I guess I was right I was thinking they were the most popular fly because they catch fish. I guess I guessed right.

[@Madriveroutfitters]

Good guess.

[@wolfthequarrelsome504]

A large stone fly larvae.

[@Madriveroutfitters]

Stonefly would be a nymph....not a larva......just to be correct. Thanks for watching.

[@marklmusic7299]

In British chalk streams they are not allowed believe it or not...

[@Madriveroutfitters]

Probably smart? Thanks for sharing.

[@marklmusic7299]

only fly I fish! Catch anything on this fly steelhead, bass, carp, etc...

[@Madriveroutfitters]

Thanks for watching. Truth!

[@creativeexperience6388]

I was like 1k

[@Madriveroutfitters]

Thanks for watching.

[@tamont]

First!

[@Madriveroutfitters]

Congrats!

[@johnkenny694]

They should be BANNED!! off all rivers.

[@Madriveroutfitters]

We’ll see what we can do! Thanks for watching.