It's simple, easy to tie, kinda rough looking, and will catch fish when nothing else will. The Woolly Bugger is what I call an insurance fly. Catching a fish is never 100% guaranteed, no matter what ...

The staple flies for catching trout from the Beaver tailwaters are various patterns of midges, scuds and sowbugs. But suppose you had to place all your hopes on a single solitary fly, win or lose.

The first time I went fly fishing, my buddy summed up the sport in five words: “hurling money into the river.” That definitely felt like the case as I proceeded to lose $10 worth of store-bought flies ...