Product Review - Bill's Wooly Bugger Maribou Chenille

Bill's Crazy Chenille! 

I got this stuff from the local fly shop probably around 2 years ago. I vaguely remember tying one fly with it to try it out. I then threw it in with my other chenille/yarns and promptly forgot about it.

Tonight I was tying some streamer patterns and buggers and stumble on it. I have Bill's Wooly Bugger Maribou Chenille in olive, but it comes in about 2 dozen colors. Anything from Oyster to red.


I tried it out and have to say it is probably the most unusual tying material I've ever used. I'm firmly convinced that Bill must have ruined some good chenille sweaters and to recoup his losses he cut them up and sold them as a tying material. That's exactly what it looks like.

Close up of the Chenille. Christmas sweater perhaps?

I have the Extra Fluffy variety, and boy is it fluffy! I started to tie a Wooly Bugger(WB) but quickly realized that the Extra Fluffy was a little too fluffy for a WB. I quickly scrapped that and after some head scratching I came up with a streamer pattern that this worked perfectly for. I somewhat remember the normal fluff being about half the diameter of this, so I'm thinking that maybe the normal fluffy would like OK on a WB.

So what do I think of it? Honestly, I'm not sure I'm feeling it as a chenille to replace the standard chenille on a WB. I think that it would work OK and it would add a nice texture to the body of the WB, but not liking it enough in that regard that I would use it to to tie all of my WB's with.

Where I think that this product really shines is in patterns that you want a larger body but don't want to wrap and wrap and wrap a standard chenille/floss/thread to make up the body and/or want a large body with some definite texture. I immediately think of things like crayfish and bait fish patterns. The material is also light enough that I have a hunch that you could use this on great big ol' dry flies and they would float well.  Hmmm........

So while I'm think that for WB's this is by and large a bust, this is definitely a material to pick up a couple colors of and try it out where you want big bodys and lots of textures. There's no website to order from, but on the package is an address and a phone number, so I'll publish them here.

Bill Skilton's USA-Flies

PO Box 64

Boiling Springs PA 17007

(717) 2 5 8 - 0 6 4 2

Half finished fly. See how fluffy it is?

Want to see the finished fly? Come back on Wednesday for the Fly of the Week and I'll show it and share the pattern!