Brownfish Bitters
The other week I was looking through the 2014 flyswap on FlyCarpin’. One fly that stuck out to me was the bitter bugger, the wooly bugger/bonefish bitters mash up. The reason it jumps out to me is that I also went with the bonefish bitters for carp but found it lacking movement. Even though I’ve caught plenty of bonefish on it I think I only managed a couple of carp . Anyway I’m not a huge fan of the wooly bugger for carp, but I decided to revisit the bonefish bitters as I do like the epoxy head as it really makes for a nice stable platform for the fly to stand on.
I added a bit of bulk and sparkle with a cactus chenille body, kept the rubber legs, added a soft hackle and dropped the deer hair wing in favour of Arctic fox tied in “temple dog" style to keep it from collapsing. Basically it leaves you with a nice little crayfish imitation with a nice “stand up" defensive posture that carp seem to love.
