Body: Two (2) 1/8" wide x 3" long latex strips cut from a food service/medical white latex glove
Rib: Thin gold wire about 3" long.
A few years ago I posted that I was in search of a fly to ty that would replicate a real wax worm or meal worm. Fly Goddess pointed me to a latex imitation that I have found to be very effective on trout and pan-fish. I hope Fly Goddess doesn’t mind me mentioning her and then showing my awful fly tying skills but the darned thing is simple and deadly effective! It works. Thanks J!
I can post the tying instructions if anyone is interested.
Latex was all the rage for caddis pupa back in the 80’s. It looks & works great but breaks and down & disintegrates after time so make sure to check your fly boxes before each trip to make sure the imitations are still lookin’ good.
In regards to meal worms, take a look at natural raffia grass. It is the perfect color and makes for an imitation with that same hard exoskeleton texture like a real mealie. Just wrap the grass over a yarn or dubbed underbody for a segmented effect and rib with fine wire to build a sturdier fly. A little head cement or Softex also helps.
While raffia makes a great looking mealie imitation, it is fragile so if the fishing is good, make sure you have plenty of imitations with you!
I use to tie and fish a few of these myself. I use “plumbers teflon tape”. It worked very well and held up better. Just my 2 cents worth, which isn’t worth much these days…unless you hang out here on FAOL.
"I use to tie and fish a few of these myself. I use “plumbers teflon tape”. It worked very well and held up better. Just my 2 cents worth, which isn’t worth much these days…unless you hang out here on FAOL. "
I would use a modified buckskin nymph which is a tried and true pattern. You could rib with wire if you need the segmentation effect. When chamois gets wet, it is translucent so an under wrap of colored floss would give you the a translucent colored appearance.
Thoroughly wet the chamois in tap water. Then wring/squeeze out excess water, but do not use heroic efforts because the chamois patch needs to be just wet enough to initially adhere to the drying surface if you use Method 2.
Method 1: Use stickpins and a cork bulletin board to modestly stretch and dry the chamois after first covering the cork with a protective sheet of wax paper. Let dry overnight. Then cut a patch about 3" X 4" (with the grain running across the 3" Width).
Method 2: Cut the chamois into 3" x 4" patches before wetting as above. Then lay each wet chamois patch on any clean, dry, flat impervious surface such as a formica kitchen counter top. Stretch and smooth out by hand, and allow to dry uncovered overnight. The chamois patches will dry without shrinkage or curling.
Using either method, the chamois will dry somewhat stiff making clean, precise cuts possible. But like all natural leathers, chamois often will have a grain to it. After drying, hold it up to a light. If you see a grain, be sure your strip cuts are made with the grain and not across the grain.
If a dried chamois patch is distorted from stretching, trim back down to a rectangular patch. Place the patch between folded over legal pad, photocopy or similar weight paper (with the grain, if any, of the chamois patch oriented with your cuts and not across your cuts). Legal pad paper is best because you can fold it lengthwise and use the ruled lines to help guide your cuts. Trim the paper down to slightly more than the dimensions of the chamois patch. Don’t handle the patch any more than necessary because chamois tends to soften with handling making clean, precise cuts more difficult.
Attach two, 3/4" metal binder clips (available at any office supply store) to hold the chamois patch firmly in place between the two sheets of paper, or simply staple along the edge. Hold the lower corner of the paper/chamois/paper sandwich between your thumb and middle finger while supporting the binder clips with your forefinger.
Using ordinary household scissors (not fly tying scissors), commence your cuts (down to about 3/32" apart) at the edge of the sandwich opposite your holding hand. Cut firmly and in single, sure strokes to the binder clips. Because all natural material varies somewhat, test the strength of your first few strips by gently stretching them. With this chamois, a 3/32" strip, when stretched, should draw out by about a third, and draw down to about 1/32" , yet still maintain good tying strength. Adjust the width of your subsequent cuts accordingly and then cut until you have a fringe of usable chamois strips. Remove the binder clips and discard the fringed paper.
Gently stretch and cut off a strip from the chamois fringe when ready to tie. Cut the end of the stretched strip diagonally with your fly tying scissors. With the strip extending beyond the bend of the hook, tie in only about half of the resulting point with the diagonal cut toward you. Then wrap forward without twisting.
Da*n!!! In the “land of latex gloves” this past week, and left with NONE!!! Could you not have posted this BEFORE we got out??? :roll: Will have to scout out the Dr office next week … shhhhh! don’t tell him!
Real latex gloves are hard to find because of latex allergies. Almost all “latex” gloves are now nitrile/nitril gloves. I think they would make more durable flies. They also come in different colors. Hooray.
Another pattern is to use Cons. They come in colors, can be twisted as they are tied to make segmented bodies. You can also rib a con* with 2-4 lb monofilament for a segmented appearance. Substitute the latex colored for the fly below with a different hook and you have another version of a grub. Your local heath dept or pregnancy prevention center has them free.
Body: Two (2) 1/8" wide x 3" long latex strips cut from a food service/medical white latex glove
Rib: Thin gold wire about 3" long.
By request here are the tying instructions for the latex wax worm:
Wind the thread onto the hook back to just beyond the bend in the hook.
Tie in the latex strips and gold wire no more than half way around the hook bend.
Wind the thread forward to about 1/5th of the hook shank length behind the hook eye just like you would for a dry fly so you leave plenty of room for a neat head.
Grasp the first latex strip, put tension on it to stretch it a bit and begin to wrap it forward toward the point where the thread is stationed. Put a few extra wraps in the middle to give a bit thicker grub like appearance. When you reach the point where the thread is stationed tie off the first latex strip.
Wind the second latex strip forward to the thread in smooth, even wraps. Tie off with a couple of turns of the thread. Now wind the gold wire forward to the thread and tie it off.
Trim off the ends of the latex and gold wire, build a nice tapered head, tie your knot and cement the head.
WOW. I got a bunch of great ideas from this thread; one even fishing related. No I am kidding two actualy fishing related.
Now I have to go wash the truck after I pick up some icecream on my way to the hospital to deliver some balloons to a stick friend…
I know I am forgetting something…
Great post; I will for sure be tying some of these up.
That is a very good imitation of what we in the UK call a ‘maggot’.
Frank Sawyer came out with a fly to catch grayling as part of his duties
as a river keeper. It is the ‘Killer Bug’ which is tied with wool.
Some experiments with various coloured wools might be worth trying,
that is not to denigrate that very nice ‘maggot’ using latex.
The best chamois for fly tying is the thinnest you can get. That means LOW QUALITY chamois. I find mine at local swap meets where the tool vendors will sometimes have cheap thin chamois. The thinner it is, the more translucent the fly will look when it gets wet.
