Fishing the woolly worm

[Michael E.]

The woolly worm is a wet fly... right? I mean it has hackle so why doesn't it float? (Coming from a newbie here) Do you pull it to make it go under water or somthing.

Fishin' squirt,
Michael E.

[rainbowchaser]

There are a couple of reasons. First it is not usually dressed on a light wire hook. Second it is not treated with floatant so the chennile body abosrbs water. Third they are often not tied with top quality dry fly hackle. If you tie a wooly worm on light hook with good hackle and treat it with floatant it will float and can be a very effective fish catcher. Omitting the chenille makes it lighter and float better but the principle is the same as many palmered hackle dry flies.

[jeffnles1]

What rainbowchaser said.

I usually tie mine with yarn for the body instead of chennile and palmer with the cheapest hackle can find. If I want them to sink a little faster, I put a few wraps of lead wire on the hook shank or a bead head.

I've found a very effective color combination is a butterscotch yarn body, a little tuft of red yarn about 1/4 hook shank length sticking out the tail and light brown barred hen hackle palmered up the body. Some guys counter wrap wire through the hackle but I've not been using that for a couple years now and have seen no difference in how the flies hold up.

Depending on what you're fishing for and where, is how you retreive them. I use them a lot in ponds and lakes for bluegill. I find an agonizing slow retrieve with a few twitches here and there drives bluegill wild. I've also landed a fair number of bass and crappie with these things while fishing for bluegill. Truth be told, I catch more fish on a woolie worm than I do with a woolie bugger.

Jeff

[SteveP]

All in all very good info. I might add that a case in point would be the crackle back (a woolly worm without a tail) and with a thread, floss, or other thin sparse material for the body. Fished with a sinking or intermediate line it is very effective on the swing and still has the ability to be fished dry and skipped for another very effective method.


Steve

[ohiotuber]

Michael,
As all of my fishing buddies know, my "go to" fly is a yellow woolly worm with grizzly hackle & a red wool yarn tail. I tie mine on a TMC 200R curved nymph hook (mostly size 12) & it is DEADLY for big gills, although it will also catch about anything else. I got brown trout in Virginia's famed Mossy Creek on one. BTW, I also got a gill or 2 in your fine State's Lake Moultrie on one.
When dry, it will float for a second or 2...let it lay & give it a very short strip (if needed) & it'll sink. I fish it letting it dead drop, then a strip, then let it drop & don't be afraid to vary the retrieve....try to keep it s..l..o..w.
Mike

[Lake Erie High Ball]

Michael,
As all of my fishing buddies know, my "go to" fly is a yellow woolly worm with grizzly hackle & a red wool yarn tail. I tie mine on a TMC 200R curved nymph hook (mostly size 12) & it is DEADLY for big gills, although it will also catch about anything else. I got brown trout in Virginia's famed Mossy Creek on one. BTW, I also got a gill or 2 in your fine State's Lake Moultrie on one.
When dry, it will float for a second or 2...let it lay & give it a very short strip (if needed) & it'll sink. I fish it letting it dead drop, then a strip, then let it drop & don't be afraid to vary the retrieve....try to keep it s..l..o..w.
Mike

I wanted to tie up some yellow woolly worms for the fly box but some guy from Ohio bought the last 80 pounds of chenille allocated to Ohio and PA. He was last seen leaving a Yours Truly with a black hefty bag slung over his shoulder and is currently at large.

[Steven McGarthwaite]

Woolly Worm are said to mimic Caterpillars (terrestrial) that somehow drop or get flushed into the water.

Al Campbell in his Beginners Fly Tying Series showed how to dress both the Wet and Dry versions of the Woolly Worm. Al shows one style of tying of dressing for the Woolly Worm as a dry terrestrial, and two styles of tying of dressing for the Woolly Worm as a wet terrestrial.

Beginning Fly Tying: Part 12, Hackle and Woolly Worm
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/beginners/part12.php

Material List for Dry and Wet Wooly WormHook: Streamer 2xlong; Eagle Claw L058, Tiemco 5263, Mustad 9672, Daiichi 1720. Body: Chenille, any color you wish. Hackle: Saddle or neck, saddle is preferred. Color to match the body if desired. Thread: 3/0, color to match body or black. Rib: - Wire (used in one method of tying).
Using the same materials for all three versions of the Woolly Worm, just different methods of dressing the hook. ~Parnelli

I have completed the whole 60 part series of Al Campbell's Fly Tying series, and sent him copies of each of the fly patterns that he included in his instructions. Back then I printed all of the articles out on double sided card-stock paper, and created my own three binder collations of the 60 part series. And I showed it to Al at a FAOL Fish-In where he autographed my copy of his work

Al Campbell was not only my instructor and mentor, he was also my friend... ~Parnelli

[ohiotuber]

I wanted to tie up some yellow woolly worms for the fly box but some guy from Ohio bought the last 80 pounds of chenille allocated to Ohio and PA. He was last seen leaving a Yours Truly with a black hefty bag slung over his shoulder and is currently at large.

Sean's not kidding folks...he was with me when I bought a HUGE bunch of yellow chenille at the Cabin Fever show in western PA.
Hey Copper, if you want to find me, keep checking at Your's Truly & I'll hit ya with a Killet Skillet (unless I eat it first!).
BTW Sean, I just ordered 1,000 size 12 200R curved nymph hooks...need some?
Mikey

[Lake Erie High Ball]

Mike you are a true friend.

I would take you up on your generous offer but I am not sure you can spare the hooks. That had to be an honest 200 yards of chenille.

Did you ever find the ends of it?

[ohiotuber]

Mike you are a true friend.

I would take you up on your generous offer but I am not sure you can spare the hooks. That had to be an honest 200 yards of chenille.

Did you ever find the ends of it?

1) Yes I can
2) Yep
3) Nope
Mikey