January FOTM - The Worm Fly

[Stephen Bradbury]

Sorry, this is very late guys.
January’s fly of the month is the Worm Fly which is a simple, but very effective fly originally developed by ‘Flyworld’ fly shop owner Dan Ivanoff as a species-specific fly for targeting the Yellowfin Whiting on the shallow flats of the Peel estuary. Don’t let this fly’s simple form fool you, a lot of thinking, development and trial and error by Dan went into its conception and ultimate form. From the choice of hook used, the type and position of the weighted dumbbell eyes to the length and tie in point of the chenille everything has been well thought out to maximise this fly patterns effectiveness. Besides Whiting (yellowfin, school, king George etc) other species can be targeted with this pattern like Bream (black & yellowfin), Tarwhine, skippy, small snapper, Herring etc. The Worm fly can be tied in a variety of colours, my favourite is red, but yellow, orange, pink, tan and earthworm brown all work effectively depending on the food available to the fish in different locations. The pattern was originally tied with Vernille chenille (not available much now), but other chenille’s like Ultra chenille micro, E Z magic dub, Ultra chenille, Suede chenille, Velvet chenille etc are good as well.
Recipe: in order of tying.
Hook – size 10# - 12# Tiemco TMC 2457 or Daiichi 1120.
Tying Thread – 140 Ultra thread in Tan colour.
Dumbbell eyes – Extra small tungsten dumbbell eyes tied in clouser style under the hook shank (hook point riding up) about 1 – 1 ½ mm from the hook eye.
Body/wing – a small length of Ultra chenille tied in front of the dumbbell eyes, extending about 6 – 8mm beyond the bend in the hook.
Whip finish and cut tying thread off and carefully seal thread with head set or UV flow, if you use too much the thread seal liquid will wick up the chenille, dry and it won’t have any movement in it.
Now seal/burn the end of the cut chenille with a lighter to stop it unraveling.
Fly finished
For most of the Whiting fishing fish this fly on an 2wt – 4wt rod with a 4-5lb fluorocarbon tippet. Usually best retrieved with a tiny little erratic twitchy retrieve until you get the fishes attention then pause (but stay in touch) and watch the fishes body language for the eat, it is not easy fishing, but very rewarding. Get some in your box now.

[Tony Ong]

Steve, I think you forgot the squirmy wormy material.

[BrianHarwood]

Steve, I hear a few have been known to get their tying material for that pattern from the compost bin