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Squirmy wormies #14006937 05/22/21 09:52 PM
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LastCastPodcast Offline OP
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I'd say about a quarter of my fly fishing is done with squirmy wormies? The glow in the dark are my go-to for sluggish warm-water fish in cold-weather. I've been experimenting with adding a bit of hackle to it. Does it make a difference? It's hard to tell, since the perch take it pretty readily either way.


Last Cast Podcast: Two TPWD-certified elite anglers. One canoe.
Re: Squirmy wormies [Re: LastCastPodcast] #14009857 05/25/21 04:54 PM
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J-Moe Offline
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Nice job thumb

How do you keep from cutting through the worm with your thread? I usually wrap dubbing around the thread to help but you don't seem to need to do so.

I noticed you tightened it down in multiple locations on the hook shank. That's an interesting idea to keep it fastened down.

I haven't been able to make them very durable yet. I have couple different manufacturers of silly worms. One seems to hold up better than the other though.

Re: Squirmy wormies [Re: LastCastPodcast] #14012682 05/27/21 10:08 PM
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LastCastPodcast Offline OP
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Ah, yeah, I think I reverse-engineered a store-bought squirmy wormy at some point. The secret to keeping the plastic on the hook is to tie it down with wire instead of thread! I'll do it slightly different every time, but usually the process involves wrapping the hook in thread and tying down a very long wire end under that thread. Then I'll wrap the wire on top of the thread, you can see that in the worm second from the top. I usually start with a heavy-gauge scud hook, and with the extra weight of the wire wrap it's usually as heavy as I ever need it.

So at that point I've got a securely fastened wire, so I'll cut the worm-plastic to length, lay it along the wire, and then do a second pass of the wire wrap to hold on the worm. So I'll put a wrap of wire around the worm at one end of the hook, and there's a certain loop tension which will hold the worm on without cutting through, basically flattening the plastic by half. Then I'll lift up the plastic worm and wrap underneath it, just wrapping the hook shaft, and make that loop tight. Then the next loop will be around both the hook and the plastic again at half-tension. Then the next loop is just the shaft but tight, etc. It gives that nice segmented look and lasts for a while. Eventually the perch will bite off the ends, but this may be the fastest fly I tie, so I always have plenty in the box.


Last Cast Podcast: Two TPWD-certified elite anglers. One canoe.
Re: Squirmy wormies [Re: LastCastPodcast] #14012957 05/28/21 02:48 AM
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Nicely done. thumb


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Re: Squirmy wormies [Re: LastCastPodcast] #14013733 05/28/21 07:37 PM
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J-Moe Offline
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Originally Posted by LastCastPodcast
Ah, yeah, I think I reverse-engineered a store-bought squirmy wormy at some point. The secret to keeping the plastic on the hook is to tie it down with wire instead of thread! I'll do it slightly different every time, but usually the process involves wrapping the hook in thread and tying down a very long wire end under that thread. Then I'll wrap the wire on top of the thread, you can see that in the worm second from the top. I usually start with a heavy-gauge scud hook, and with the extra weight of the wire wrap it's usually as heavy as I ever need it.

So at that point I've got a securely fastened wire, so I'll cut the worm-plastic to length, lay it along the wire, and then do a second pass of the wire wrap to hold on the worm. So I'll put a wrap of wire around the worm at one end of the hook, and there's a certain loop tension which will hold the worm on without cutting through, basically flattening the plastic by half. Then I'll lift up the plastic worm and wrap underneath it, just wrapping the hook shaft, and make that loop tight. Then the next loop will be around both the hook and the plastic again at half-tension. Then the next loop is just the shaft but tight, etc. It gives that nice segmented look and lasts for a while. Eventually the perch will bite off the ends, but this may be the fastest fly I tie, so I always have plenty in the box.


Great information, I never even saw that method on Youtube before. I'll definitely give that a try thumb

Re: Squirmy wormies [Re: LastCastPodcast] #14044441 06/27/21 09:43 AM
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I like them, Did you use lead / solder wire or was it something like copper? It looks like something that would troll nicely 4' to 5' behind a floating booby fly or something similar.

Re: Squirmy wormies [Re: LastCastPodcast] #14045469 06/28/21 04:14 PM
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thumb

Re: Squirmy wormies [Re: LastCastPodcast] #14053863 07/06/21 05:21 PM
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LastCastPodcast Offline OP
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@stevebob, it was just copper wire. Color doesn't seem to matter, I just use whatever I have a bunch of. Some people use bead heads, but that always seemed inelegant to me.

The yellow squirmies were knocking them dead up at Lake Monona in Wisconsin. Easily outfished the folks with real worms.
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Last Cast Podcast: Two TPWD-certified elite anglers. One canoe.
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