I was playing around with some bluegill patterns, and I got to thiniking about how sunfish are notorious for grabbing the end of a worm and stripping it off the hook, without getting hooked. I have seen them strike short on flies as well, on ones like the San Juan Worn, that have tails hanging off the back. So I tied this up with a ‘stinger’ set of hooks to nails those short-striking 'gills. I wanted to come up with something similar to the plastic Creme Mini-Worm. I haven’t tried it out, yet, but if it ever stops raining, I’ll do a field test.
It may work for carp as well, and trout, because they all eat worms. I am not sure about the legality of using it for trout, though. It may not be legal to use a fly with more than 1 hook for trout (but they do allow dropper flies, so…maybe…I dunno. I’ll try to check on it, for TN. at least).
I looked all over the internet and couldn’t find anything close to this pattern, so maybe I can claim this as sort of an original. Anyway, here it is…
My fear with that fly would be a big gill or greenie getting two or all three hooks in one go. Getting that back hook out could be a bit tricky without hurting the fish. I like the way you linked the hooks though, no chance of pulling loose like it might if they were linked by cord, wire, or any of the other methods I’ve seen for articulated flies. Let us know how it works!
You might want to try a small circle hook like the Eagle Claw L702 as that stinger hook.
I have had great luck with sunfish flies tied on circle hooks. They also work great when the anglers are kids that might have trouble getting the hang of setting the hook.
That’s why I’m not sure about using it for trout. But I’m not worried about bluegills, because they will not be released anyway, except into my skillet. Likewise with carp.
I would use barbless or de-barbed hooks as a favor both to the fish and to you. Getting the extra hooks stuck into fish will be alot easier to remedy and cause the fish less injury if they are barbless.
you need to check local regs, because many times, they dont allow more than two hooks on a line. u could try to pass this as a treble, but i doubt it would “fly”. pun intended.
