David’s First Wooly Bugger

Back in August, I picked up a
White River Trout Fly Tying Kit from Bass Pro Shops for my son David’s 7th birthday. I could have put some things together myself, for him but the kit came with a DVD video with instructions on tying six fly patterns including a Wooley Bugger.

It’s not a bad kit for beginners, although the thread that comes with it is crappy. It’s got the basics a beginner tier needs to tie six effective patterns for a variety of fish species, and the video is pretty good at showing how to tie. Sometimes, a video is better than Dad trying to explain. The only problem with the video is that I wish the camera would simply focus on the fly being tied instead of regularly cutting out to the tiers face.

Anyhow, this evening David decided he wanted to watch the video and tie up a Wooly Bugger. He’s become quite keen on this pattern ever since he read the book and did a review on “Olive The Woolly Bugger.”

So I set up the vice for him, and we went through the list of materials he would need:

Size 6 hook
Thread
Lead Wire
Olive Marabou
Olive Chenille
Saddle Hackle
Head Cement.

The materials were laid out in front and we went through the video, pausing it after each step. One of David’s characteristics is that he is left-handed, whereas I am right-handed, so helping him with it all was a bit backwards for me. But we got through it, and in the end, David added his first olive Wooley Bugger to his fly box tonight.

He was quite proud of the finished result and is looking forward to trying it out on the rainbow trout in the spring. I think he should be quite proud, and I’m proud of him for having the patience and desire to learn and get interested in all the details, naming the parts of the hook, remembering what the materials were that he used, and how to tie them on.

Way to go, David!

Here’s the finished product. The flash on the camera distorted the actual colours quite a bit: