Fur Bug
It’s hard to imagine after the coldest February on record, that the warm weather this week is a reality. But it is, and the snow is receding rapidly each day. I’ve begun my tying for the start of the season with a simple bead head Fur Bug. It works well in many situations, and so I like to have a variety of them in box at all times in the season. I often use it as the top fly on a two fly nymphing rig. It’s also an interesting fly in the way it’s tied. Fast, easily dressed in any color, using natural furs, yarns, a blend of the two, or even feather dubbing (a blend of many feather odds and ends).
To make a Fur Bug from yarn, cut the material into 3/4 inch to 1 inch long pieces and pop them in the blender cap.
I told the blender upside down when whipping the yarn pieces into dubbing. This eliminates tangles around the base of the blade.
Get the bead on, tie in the wire rib, and make a spinning loop. Insert a small amount of dubbing in the loop. No need to spin the dubbing onto the thread. I insert it over about 2 inches of the loop for a size 12 fly. Then add a small pinch of black dubbing in the loop at the very bottom of the dubbing. Spin it very tight..
Wind the dubbing forward to the bread. The small gob of black dubbing at the bottom end of the spinning loop forms the thorax of the Bug. Tie off tight behind the bead.Yes, tie off before wrapping the rib.
Counter-wrap the wire rib. This allows it to reenforce the body material. Stroke all the fibers of the thorax forward and make two wraps of wire just behind the thorax. Clip the wire and then crimp the end tightly with your thumbnail. Put a dot o flexible head cement on the thread of the “head” and on the wire at the back of the thorax. This hot orange fly is good all year, and makes a great top fly in a two fly nymphing rig.
Hot pink is another color that can be used all season with great effect.
There are a number of other color combinations that I’ve found useful, mostly as a searching fly, but occasionally as a good match for the naturals. Black is always good.
Green is great color to match the Green Rock Worm–this is a great steelhead fly, by the way.
Many nymphs are reddish brown, and this color of the Fur Bug often finds willfully accepting trout.
Rusty brown is a great color, too, to suggest a variety of nymphs and even scuds.
I like off-white to suggest caddis larvae, small cranefly larvae, and other dipteran larvae.