What is a Wooly Bugger?

Glad you should ask. It is perhaps one of the ugliest, simplest, and most effective flies for fishing in Middle Tennessee. When I was a kid I always wanted to try fly fishing. Nobody I knew had even tried it, but I thought it would be great. I grew up fishing with my family in ponds and warm-water creeks for bass, bluegills, catfish, and anything that would hit a worm. I always had a problem...patience. My grandfather is the king of patience. He'll tie on a worm and wait, and wait, and wait, and wait, and wait.....I just couldn't do it. I was constantly reeling and casting, reeling and casting. Well, one day I made a huge discovery, the artificial lure. A bait designed to be cast and then reeled. It was perfect for me. After several years fooling with crankbaits and beetle-spins, I decided to try fly fishing.

I was engaged to my wonderful wife when I dropped the cash for an 8'6" 5wt Cabela's combo. It changed my life. I immediately fell in love with fly fishing. I am no good, but I love it and go as often as I can. I'll never get paid to fly fish, but when you find something you love, you'd pay to do it. As a matter of fact, I was really, really bad. I tried all kinds of flies but couldn't catch anything but a few desperate fish...until one fateful day I discovered the lowly wooly bugger. Since then, I never leave home without one. They are ugly, simple, and often overlooked. But man are they effective. Put a little gold bead on the head of the fly and you'll catch anything from bass to perch and even trout. I actually caught a 5lbs. catfish on a bead-head wooly bugger.

I wonder how many times God has challenged us to do something but we didn't think we could do it because we didn't know very much about it or because we think of ourselves as too plain, too ugly, or too easy to overlook? Sometimes we are the only thing keeping a blessing from our lives. And sometimes, just sometimes it is the ugly, simple, plain, and overlooked that can completely revolutionize a life.