Tied by Tim Flagler of Tightline Productions. Watch Tim’s tutorials on YouTube
Tim Flagler of Tightline Productions puts a colorful spin on a tried-and-true classic with the Thin Mint Bugger. This pattern has proven itself as a go-to streamer across trout streams and stillwaters.
While it’s rooted in the basic woolly bugger design, this version gets its “Thin Mint” name from the tri-colored marabou tail (olive, brown, and black) reminiscent of the cookie it’s named after. That combination, along with a few smart upgrades, like dual ribbing and a flashy body, gives this fly the movement, durability, and attraction needed to move fish in a wide range of water conditions.
Add a tungsten bead, lead-free wire underbody, and a touch of flashabou, and you’ve got a bugger pattern that sinks fast, flutters on the strip, and draws reaction strikes. Whether you swing it through a run, strip it through stillwater, or dead drift it along structure, this bugger has the goods.
Materials
- Standard streamer hook (Lightning Strike SN3 or Mustad Heritage S82), size 8
- Nickel-color tungsten bead, 1/8"
- Lead-free round wire, .020
- Rusty brown, 8/0 or 70-denier
- Olive marabou
- Brown marabou
- Black marabou
- Pearl Flashabou
- Small copper Ultra Wire
- Pearl Flashabou
- Peacock herl
- Rusty brown saddle or hen hackle
