Zug Bug by Nicole March

The Zug Bug was invented by Cliff Zug, and while it has been said that it was initially created to imitate a caddis; there is no doubting it effectiveness. This can be fished a variety of ways and works well as an attractor pattern in-between hatches.div>

 

 

Thread: Black 6/0
Uni 6/0
Superfly 6/0
Danville 6/0

Body:  Peacock Herl

Tail:  Peacock Sword

Ribbing: Fine Gold Wire under Silver Tinsel
Wire
Tinsel

Legs: Brown Hen Cape

Wing Case: Mallard

 

Step 1

Start your thread one eye length behind the eye and run it down the hook shank, stopping across from the barb. Remove three peacock swords from the stem and measure them to one hook shank in length before tying them in at the base of the hook. Cover the waste ends.

 

 Step 2

Cut off a length of silver tinsel and gold wire and tie them in at the base of the hook. If you are using the tinsel on the spool that has one side gold and the other silver, tie it in with the gold side facing the front of the hook when its lifted up. This way when you wrap it forward the silver side will show.

 

Step 3

Select two strands of peacock herl from the package and remove the tips. The tips are the weak spots and can break once wrapped around so you will want to take these off. As you can also see from this photo, on one side of herl the fibers are longer than on the other. Keep this in mind when tying them in as you will want to use the side that is longer to create the body.

 

Step 4

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Advance your thread to the front of the hook where you started and tie your two strands of peacock herl in here.

 

Step 5

Wrap your peacock herl towards the back of the hook shank, stopping when you’ve reached the base of the tail.

 

Step 6

You can now bring your wire forward in four or five evenly spaced wraps up the shank, then cover that with the tinsel. Tie your material off and trim the waste ends as the herl is now locked in place.

 

Step 7

To create the legs, we are going to use a hen feather. Select and prep your feather by removing the fluff at the base of the stem, then tie it in at the front of the hook. Be sure to leave room so that you aren’t crowding the eye. You can now brush the fibers back and take one wrap around the hook shank. You will want this sparse so one wrap should do the trick.

 

Step 8

The final step in this fly is to create the wing case and this is done using a mallard feather dyed in a wood duck color. Prep your feather for tie in by removing the fluff again and position the feather over the hook shank as shown in the photo. We will be clipping this shorter but for now take a few wraps to lock it in place, then hold the stem up before taking a few wraps in front of it. This will move the stem back from the eye so that when you trim the waste ends it won’t block the hook eye.

 

Step 9

Create the head, cut your thread and whip finish. You can now clip the wing case to about 1/3 of the hook shank. Your fly is complete!

 

Done!

This Pattern can also be tied in a bead head version with wraps of lead wire under the body to get it down deep.