Description

The Ausable Ugly was created in 1999 by Rich Garfield, NYS Licensed Guide, at his vise one late August night. After a successful day fishing a bead head muskrat nymph, he set out to improve the pattern. By adding a hen grizzly hackle and aggressively roughing up the entire fly with a stiff toothbrush, the result was an unconventional, scruffy looking fly – thus the name, “Ausable Ugly.”

Tied in sizes #8 and #12 on Mustad heavy gauge hooks (micro barb), the Ugly is a versatile nymph that can be presented in multiple ways: dead drifted at various depths, quarter cast downstream and slowly stripped back, or retrieved aggressively. It mimics a variety of aquatic nymphs, and in larger sizes, can even imitate small baitfish. The Ugly is an all-purpose attractor pattern that performs year-round in both moving and still waters. This highly effective fly has been fished with outstanding results across the world.