Brad Bohen's Buford is one of Wisconsin great flies as it has all the qualities of what makes for a unique fly pattern. It is innovative, able to be adapted to imitate a number of different fishes, and it works! Better yet, it utilizes a material - the backside of a bucktail - that is typically wasted by most tyers. That alone earns it a few point from this frugal tyer.
Brad gives some credit to Larry Dahlberg and his "diver", a great fly pattern for warmwater anglers. The Dahlberg Diver is only a generation older than the Buford. And I would argue that among musky anglers that the Buford holds a spot very similar to Dahlberg's diver for Smallmouth Bass anglers. They were both unique innovations that lead to adaptive radiation. That is, once ideas like the diver and the Buford came about, a huge number of fly patterns came about that used those innovations.
The Buford takes some ideas from the Dahlberg Diver (watch the first video) and to me, the uniqueness of the Buford is that water pushing deer hair head. It is not the neat, compacted head of a diver, today's modern muddler, or a popper, rather it is a sizeable head designed to push water and stimulate predators lateral lines. It is hard to tie - and cast - flies with the bulk and water pushing ability of many of the common musky forage fishes like suckers and hornyhead chubs. The Buford head moves a lot of water and the fly is relatively easy to tie and to cast (not that any musky flies are necessarily easy to cast).
My take on the Buford is that is has become as much a concept as it is a fly pattern. And that is as large a compliment as a fly pattern can earn. The large, water-pushing head meant to be fished on a sinking line has been applied to a number of other fly patterns and variations on the theme. Fly anglers figured out that a large, bulky head and a long, flowing tail work together to create movement. The head creates a low pressure area behind it which causes the tail to move. This concept is used in a number of trout, bass, and musky/pike single as well as articulated flies.
I present the video above because it is a more detailed - over an hour long - look at how to tie a Buford. There are many options out there. And I use the video below because it is, I think, and example of a musky fly that borrows heavily from the Buford.
Blane Chocklett's T-Bone uses Fish Skull Body Tubing to create water-pushing bulk at the head of the fly. But you will see that the rest of the fly is a whole lot like a Buford. I am not a musky guy - but I enjoy tying musky flies (weird, yes, I know...) - so I don't really know / understand the history of musky fly tying. While it seems somewhat a recent phenomena, I'm sure that musky fly fishing is much older than I would have assumed.
The Buford (a basic fly pattern)
I will present a very general, basic pattern that is highly adaptable to match the forage fishes you are likely to encounter. I'll present this first as a single hook fly, then move into options for articulating and/or adding more hooks. I view this pattern a lot like a Sparkle Dun, Muddler Minnow, Clouser Deep Minnow, or other pattern that you can tie in about a thousand different ways to match what you are tying to imitate.
Hook: Ahrex Hooks Predator Stinger PR320 (or something similar)
Thread: GSP, 100 or 150 denier seem about right
Tail / Body: Schlappen feathers
Body: Bucktail, colors of your choice
Flash: Flashabou (I like the barred colors)
Head: Back side of a bucktail
Tying Notes: The first decision you have, other than what color you're going to tie it is, are you adding a bucktail tail/keel or do you tie in the schlappen first? Personally, I like the rudder effect of the bucktail tail - and Brad uses it in his video above. To me, the bucktail also keeps the hackles and/or schlappen from fouling the hook.
After the tail, the fly basically becomes alternating layers of bucktail and flash, with maybe a few more hackle feathers thrown in for yet more movement. Tyers have a tendency to add to much material to the fly which will keep it from moving in the water as it should. My tip is to leave a little space between the different layers of bucktail, flash, and feathers. As is mentioned often in fly tying, less is more.
On a larger hook, I am probably tying in three, maybe four bucktail bundles, the first two rearward ones, typically standard tied and the last one or two nearest the head, the bucktail is reverse tied (see video above). There is a lot of flexibility in what these layers are comprised of - other than bucktail is involved. Add some saddle feathers or schlappen for more movement. Or add some flash to capture the attention of fishes, but don't over do it. Changing bucktail colors - maybe alternating a color with white or black bucktail - is a great way to create a uniquely colored fly.
What most makes a Buford a Buford is the head. This does not need to be like the tightly packed, cleanly trimmed heads on Muddlers and other similar flies. In fact, the head on a Buford should be pretty simple and should require very little trimming. Before we get to that, what is most unique about the Buford head is that utilizes the backside of a bucktail, the part of the tail that many tyers throw away. That is an idea that I love!
The head on a Buford is meant to push water. The example above - the Brown and Orange Waterpusher - is the Buford idea taken to the extreme where a Pacchiarini Waterpushing Disc does much of the work. These flies are fished on sinking lines and will ride (generally) a bit above the fly line and each strip of the fly line will create a wake. The head, as mentioned previously, is there to create a low pressure area behind it which makes the bucktail, flash, and feathers move more in the water. This fly basically pulsates in the water when it is not too densely tied - probably the largest sin of many streamer flies.
Playing around with the Buford
This is where the fun comes - there are so many different things you can do to customize a Buford. For me, this is the fun of tying musky flies.
The Moose Beard Buford is a rather simple alternative - using moose hair in place of bucktail. As he says, the moose hair is longer, stiffer, and had more oil than does bucktail. Otherwise this is basically single Buford.
The next most obvious step is to articulate the fly with shanks or multiple hooks. Articulation does a number of things to the fly. First, it builds additional movement into the fly - it allows the front and back parts of the flies to move in different directions. Some musky anglers feel this is a trigger for musky as Blane Chocklett talks about in the tying of the T-Bone musky fly (video above). Second, articulation makes it easier to create a larger fly and keep the hook in a proper place to hook musky effectively. In fact, some musky anglers are tying hooks on shanks that allow for large treble hooks to be attached to help increase hooking success. Many are building their own shanks but there are increasingly commercially available options like Musky Fool's Split Ring Shanks.
This is where I will get a bit over my skis and comments about your experiences are more than welcome in the comments. Hook placement on streamers can have a pretty significant impact on hooking success. And for "the fish of 10,000 casts", every strike matters because strikes are so rare. Much of the thrill of casting for musky is that the next strike could be that 50 incher and you want the greatest likelihood of a hook up on every strike. Musky tend to "T-bone" their prey, first striking their prey in the middle and then, once the prey is injured and stunned, reposition to swallow prey head first.
I included this video mostly because it is a long, detailed description of tying a Buford.
Bufords - Not Just For Muskies
The Buford is not just for Muskellunge; sized down and hooks in the "right places", the water pushing head fished on a sinking line is a concept that can be applied to bass and trout. Pike are another obvious target of folks casting Bufords. Yeah, I know the musky folks generally have a strong dislike of the musky's sister taxa, pike are a hell of a lot of fun and tend to be more common and easier to catch than musky. Certainly by weight, one of the largest Smallmouth Bass I have caught on a fly rod was this past summer on a Bufford while casting for musky. Try downsizing the Buford and for smallies, maybe putting the hook a bit more forward and for trout, maybe a bit more rearward (or use 2 hooks) and see if moving some water catches their attention.
Though, as I have certainly mentioned a few times, I am not a musky guy and my knowledge (or lack there of...) comes from what I have read and friends with much more experience. I tie these flies because I enjoy playing around at the vise - I certainly need a little more time fishing them. I don't present this fly because I am some expert at tying or fishing them but because I think it is such a cool and innovative pattern that deserves some attention outside of the "musky world".
Links to More Information
Brad Bohen and the Buford - Frankenfly
Musky Country: Zero 2 Hero - Video by Robert Thompson (Third Year Fly Fisher)
Bufords and Other Cool Fly Designs for Musky and Pike - Ahrex Hooks
Video - How to Tie a Buford for Pike and Musky - Paul Monaghan
World's Top Musky Flies - Fly Fisherman Magazine
Fly Focus Friday: Buford - All Points Fly Fishing
Video - Musky Fly Tying: Articulated Buford (747) Musky Fly - Mickey Grant Outdoors
Musky County Lessons - Fishing TV
Video - Fur and Feather Mantinee: Brad Buford - Southern Culture on the Fly
Single Buford - Halloween - Musky Fool
Tying with Bucktail Brushes - Weights and Measures
YouTube Playlist: Musky Fly Fishing - Aaron Kaminski
YouTube Playlist: Musky Fly Tying - Paul Monaghan
Good piece, thanks!