I know I have not made a post in long time but I read them everyday. My chronic pain does not allow me to tie nearly as much as I would like and after the couple of hours trip Monday it took me two days just to get over it. So that is why you do not hear a lot from me. I went Monday of this week in private pond and caught 18 bass and 1 bluegill. My question is this. After reading the post the other day, I decided to make a worm out of chenille and I had the same problem as always. After about a dozen or so casts the outside material on the chenille will slid down to the end of the inside string. This has always been a problem for me with chenille. I had a piece of craft faom tied on the end of the chenille and then I put some super glue after I got through tying the foam. I have tried chenille before on some kind of worm where you tie it to the hook and leave and inch or so in from of the eye and and inch or so past the end of the hook. I have super glued it and burned the ends and it still comes apart. I must not be doing something right or the chenile I am using is different from the chenille used in the post and articles I have read on the forum and other places. I am using chenille that I got from Hook & Hackle. Can someone please tell me what I am doing wrong? I watched the chenille worm when it got close to the bank and with that piece of foam trying to float up it looks great. It just does not last long. I was at Bass Pro in Jackson, MS last night and bought a worm looking similar to the ones I tied without the foam at the tip. Please help and thanks in advance. mathcarver
PS. I apologize for the long post.
i make chenille worms with instead of a single strand of, you braid it like a tapered leader, tie of the end, and the tip, and then tie it on a worm hook, and just barely hook it through. works great.
and theres no need to apologize. youre post wasnt even very long
What kind of chenille are you using?
Ultra-chenille or vemille?
I find that these finer chenilles hold up better than the larger cheniles - Plus, I like the look of San Juans tied with these finer chenilles.
Of course, ya’ can always go to a Chamois worm and will probably catch just as many fish…
Bowfin47
Bowfin … funny you should mention that!!
Bobbie … maybe tie the ultra chenille on to the hook like you would the chamois leech. Tie a thread base, start the chenille/chamois at the back of the hook, wrap the hook (to prevent it slipping), tie the front end, tie it off, and go fish!!
-Ultra chenile!(very fine)
-thread-wrap the hook
-wrap the back section of chenile
-pull chenile back
-run the thread forward
-wrap the front part of chenile
-run thread to eye and whip finish
-head cement
-heat both ends of chenile with lighter to taper the ends(easy on the heat big fella)
Should hold together well
I bet you aren’t wrapping your hook with thread first.
Not long ago i made the beginners mistake and saw a 100 yard role of large chenille at the craft store and bought it not realizing how poor quality it is for tying, so ive been using it for chenille worms, and it works great. but you can as far as i know, use any type of chenille you want. i wouldnt use ultra chenille though because its more expensive.
heres a pic of some chenille worms (and a worm used on the baitcasting rod. i took the pic for something else)
For my chenille worm…
I take a length of chenille and twist it and let it fold back on itselt.
(That’s right I furl it)
I then tie it in as a tail.
I usually tie in a collar of boa or eyelash yarn.
Ed
I just looked in “The Hook & Hackle” magazine and I am using the standard chenille. Like I said in question yesterday, have chronic pain and I don’t thing I explained my problem correctly. I always wrap my hook with thread. I tied some worms just like the ones pictured (I forgot who posted the pics in their reply) and even though I glued the end some times and heated the ends at other times, the fuzzy stuff still slides off of the inner core. I have used the fine and the medium with the same results. The part on the hook is not what is slipping it is the part behind the hook, and in the worm with the inch or so in front and the inch or so at the end of the hook is the part that is sliding. I apologize for not making it clearer. Thanks, mathcarver
Mathcarver, ultra-chenille is made differently from most other chenilles. The fuzzy cross-fibers are bound more tightly. When the ends are melted back, the chenille tends to hold together. That is what I use unless I loop the ends of the chenille back and tie them down. Don’t underestimate the bluegill catching ability of crystal chenille looped back and tied down leaving an inch or so behind the hook, then the rest of the fly tied as a woolly bugger.
If I am still mis-understanding you, my apologies.
Good Luck,
Ed
The worms picture appear to be very similar in a Green Weenie, only tied in a weedless matter on a plastic worm hook. Using standard medium or large chenille, wrap the straight portion of the hook with thread. Pull off a short length of pile from the thread inside and secure the thread. Measure the length of the desired worm [here I would straight on bend of a paper clip] run the chenille through the remaining paper clip bend and bring it back to the tie point and twist the two strands onto themselves with the paper clip. Tie of the chenille, and finish as you would any nymph. Pull the hook up between the strand so it can be retrieved weedless.
I use the Green Weenies as a dropper with some success. Hot pink also works.
Mathcarver
I may be missing the picture but will forge ahead here anyway.
Have you tried tying it in as a loop? Then twist the “U” at the tail end so that it furls up like an old model airplane rubberband and secure that end? (Gosh, do they even make balsa planes with rubberband motors any longer?)
Here is a link with images that explain in thousands of words