Black Booby Fly

The Booby fly isn’t really a fly at all, it’s more of a category of flies. There are certainly as many varieties of boobies as there are wooly buggers, and we’re not just talking size and color. Some people tie these very simply with a marabou tail, some silver tinsel, a marabou body, and the foam eyes. Here we tie a slightly more involved booby pattern, using a simi seal dubbing for the body and some red ultra wire as ribbing, but you can let your imagination run wild with this fly. Fritz or struggle body materials work wonders here, as do regular chenille or UV dubbing. You can tie them in subdued natural colors or wild fluorescents that don’t represent anything, but simply act as a stimulator. The booby is most common in the UK, especially in still water lakes and reservoirs. It can effectively be fished in rivers as well though, in long deep pools where it has time to sink to the bottom. Fish it with a sinking line, and let the fly get all the way to the bottom. Then do the slowest figure-8 retrieve you’ve ever done. There are a lot of videos on YouTube saying things like “This fly should be banned” but this fly actually is banned from a lot of waters around the UK because it’s so effective. Try it for yourself and let us know in the comments if it’s as good as the Brits say it is!