Bow River Bugger: Is it muddler, bugger, sculpin or leech?
Taking a look at a knock-off fly that’s gained attention for “got game”
By Skip Clement
[dropcap]Y[/dropcap]es, I tie the Bow River Bugger (BRB) and have been for years. Well, not exactly the BRB.
The last half dozen years I’ve been tying my version of BRB on tubes. This hybrid/mutation of Russell Blessing’s Woolly Bugger and Don Gapen’s Muddler Minnow is perfectly designed for tubes – yours, mine, or the better looking Bow River spinoff.
If you tie and found the traditional Muddler and standard Bugger are go-to flies, you’ve no doubt experimented with alternate assemblages and surrogate materials. This BRB is an example of good mixed marriage. It’s been killer on crappies and largemouth bass, but that’s not a great endorsement. It has creds of crushing trout as well.
I endorse it for the enthusiasm crappies and bass went for it: like dogs-in-heat compared to other streamers in my fly box.
Blessing was from Central Pennsylvania and Gapen from just north of Minneapolis
Russell Blessing tied these flies. – provided courtesy of his son, Fred Blessing.
When Blessing created his fly in 1967, he said he wasn’t an avid fly tier but became so in later years. The original interpretation was actually designed for smallmouth bass – wanting something similar to the Dobsonfly larva. When he added a marabou tail, his creation became the Woolly Bugger, and it was game on.
Fly Rod + Reel asked Fred Blessing’s son, “How did your his father promote the pattern so effectively?” He replied:
In August 1967, Dad was fishing the Little Lehigh. Barry Beck was fishing downstream and wasn’t having any luck, like everyone else that day. Dad landed a nice trout, then another. Barry approached him out of curiosity and Dad gave him a Woolly Bugger to try. Barry started catching trout. They later became friends, and Barry did an article on the fly in 1984. It became well known after that. Dad never wanted to promote the fly; he just wanted to catch fish. He was very humble about his creation.”
Don Gapen tied these Muddler Minnows. Provided courtesy of Catskill Fly Fishing Center and Museum.
Don Gapen
Don Gapen was from Anoka, Minnesota. He developed the Muddler Minnow in 1937 to imitate sculpin. Gapen was the son of resort operators Jesse and Sue Gapen who ran the Gateway Lodge Resort in the 1920s on Hungry Jack Lake – now the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
In 1936, the Gapens opened a second resort, the Chalet Bungalow Lodge, on the Nipigon River in Ontario. Don operated it. In 1937, Gapen developed his fly to catch Nipigon strain brook trout. The Muddler, as it is informally known by anglers, was popularized by Dan Bailey from Montana.
Both Don Gapen’s Muddler and Russell Blessing’s Bugger are found in almost every freshwater fly fishers fly box. Both patterns still undergoing tweaking, revisions, and reinventions, like the Bow River Bugger. Some tyers even claiming different parentage for their copies.
You can search the internet and find as many vids on tying Russell Blessing’s Woolly Bugger and Don Gapen’s Muddler Minnow as there are pebbles on a beach. However, this Bow River Bugger as tied by InTheRiffle, fished as a streamer, reportedly works like catnip on trout and I’ll bet the farm on saltwater animals as well.
Bow River Bugger Fly Tying Recipe:
Hook: #02-08 Tiemco 5263
Thread: Black UNI 6/0
Tail: Black Woolly Bugger Marabou
Flash: Electric Blue Flashabou
Rib: Copper Brassie Wire
Body: Dark Olive Medium Woolly Bugger Chenille
Hackle: Grizzly Whiting High and Dry Rooster Cape
Collar: Natural Deer Hair
Head: Bleached or White Deer Hair
