The man who invented one of trout fishing’s most famous fly patterns has died.

Russ Blessing, the man widely credited for the Woolly Bugger wet fly, passed away recently at his home in Harrisburg, Pa. He was 74.

Blessing reportedly was seeking to impart a little more action to a standard Woolly Worm wet fly when, sometime around 1967, he got the idea of substituting a long marabou tail for the standard short tuft of red wool. It was a marriage made in heaven. The revised pattern caught fish when other flies wouldn’t. A magazine article on the fly’s effectiveness caught the public’s attention and helped spread its popularity.

Today, no fly fisherman worth his salt would venture astream without a few “Buggers” in his fly box. Rest in peace, Russ. Your legacy lives on.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at 6:42 pm and is filed under Fishing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.