A Worm by any other name can still be a Fly

                                                                By:  Gordon Rose

When I guided on the Big Horn, I ran into more than a few clients who cringed and whined when I recommended tying on an aquatic worm imitation.  They felt like they just weren’t playing proper cricket.  My best example is another guide I knew who refused to allow a worm imitation in his boat because “worms aren’t imitating a natural food source in the river”.  My response was that “Those poor robins will become an endangered species ‘cause they must be dropping all their worms into the river on their way to the nest!”.

 What’s an Aquatic Worm? 

Let’s cut through the BS, learn about aquatic worms, and see how and when to use them to optimize your fishing success.  For the biologic Latin geeks out there, aquatic worms (hereafter just referred to just as “worms”) are members of the phylum Annelida (Annelids) and the Class Oligochaeta (Oligochaetes).  To put it simply, aquatic worms are just a water-breathing version of an earthworm.  Put an earthworm in the water, it drowns.;  Put an aquatic worm in the dirt, and it suffocates.  Water breathing worms live in just about every trout stream; it’s just a question of whether they exist in sufficient numbers to be a significant trout food.  If they do, you should use flies which imitate them!

          When & Where to fish your Worm

My experience with fishing worm imitations has been limited to Wyoming’s North Platte, Wind and Big Horn Rivers, along with Montana’s famed Big Horn River.  We all know they exist in New Mexico’s San Juan River (hence the renowned San Juan Worm imitation).  They seem to be most common in all tail-water fisheries with lots of underwater vegetation (weed beds).  If you’re not sure if they exist in your favorite fishery, simply pull a small handful of moss/weeds off the river bottom and examine its contents!  (be sure to check moss/weeds in a water type which trout inhabit, or which will feed into habitable trout water; And do it during the right season!).

Most importantly, I’ve discovered a distinct seasonal aspect to successful worm fishing.  On Montana’s Big Horn River, changes in the reservoir’s thermal-clines over the course of a year results in significant seasonal changes in water temperatures in the river.  This, along with longer and shorter days and more/less sunlight, leads to significant seasonal changes in the life of the river’s weedbeds.  Most years the weeds are at their thickest and healthiest beginning early June as the water temperature and sunlight increases.  This continues until October when the lake “turns over” and the weedbeds begin to die, break-up and float away.  By January 1st, the weedbeds in the river are probably only 10% of what they are in mid August.  Can you see the pattern here?  No weeds, no worms!  Where do the worms go?  They migrate into the silt in the river bottom as the weeds break away.  In late spring as the weeds grow and the weed mats thicken, the worms move out of the river bottom to eat and play in the weedbeds; making the worms available and susceptible to feeding trout.  During the winter and early spring months, when the worms are hiding in the silty river bottom, worms are hardly ever available to the fish — and hence the fish are not looking for them!  Bottom Line?  Fish worms from early summer through fall; forget about it in winter and early spring!  I don’t know how many times I’ve had a client in March or April insist on using a worm “because he just killed ‘em with it last year”.  Problem is he fished last August.  I let Mr. Whiney go ahead and fish his worm to shut him up, while I rig his buddy with a scud or midge imitation.  After his buddy outfishes him 8 fish to zippo, Mr. Whiney asks me what to use and then becomes Mr. Happy.  But when June 1st rolls around, I love to fish a worm on the ‘Horn; the trout love them as the easiest high-protein prey in the river.

 What Worm Pattern to Use?

There are many relatively effective worm patterns available.  Some are reasonably effective, some are superior, and some should be avoided. Just about everybody is familiar with the standard San Juan Worm pattern with it’s chenille body lashed to the hook by tying thread (not very durable & with no sex glands!).  This fly works ok, but is not superior.  Many of you may have seen the old pattern with an all thread-body ribbed with wire tied on a large very curved English Bait Hook .  This pattern can be deadly, but oftentimes I mean literally.  The hook rides upside down in the water, and, with its large curved size, it tends to hook fish through the roof of the mouth with the hook penetrating an eyeball or the brain.  For this reason I tend to avoid the Bait-Hook-Style worm pattern.  My favorite, of course, is Gordie’s worm featured at www.quillgordonflyfishers.com.  I discovered in 1986, when I studied worm habits extensively on the Big Horn, that as a natural worm tumbled along the river bottom its bright orange bulbous sex gland was it’s most prominently visible feature!  It was at that point that I created Gordie’s worm with a large orange bulb tied over the chenille about 2/3rd of the way up the body.  I also lash the chenille to the hook with 4x monofilament to far exceed the durability of thread-tied worms.  Even if you’re not interested in buying flies, check out the photos of my patterns at the top of this post article and/or at www.quillgordonflyfishers.com.

Fishing a worm pattern can bring you to some of the biggest fish in a river;  and just think, it’s the only time when you can comfortably & jokingly say after landing a dozen fish that “it’s time to change my bait!”.  (If not, then maybe you’re taking yourself too seriously!)