Wooly Worm

Fly of the Month 05.25 - Woolly Worm


The less-sophisticated cousin of the Woolly Bugger is the terrestrial Woolly Worm. The Woolly Worm pattern has its origination possibly in the Ozarks as a bass fly back in the 1920s but the originator is unknown. Dan Martinez is credited with making this fly popular sometime in the 1950s. It is thought to be derived from the English Palmer Fly, which was popular with anglers in the 18th century. The fly pattern is an excellent searching pattern for subsurface trout, and it has the added benefit of being a versatile fly pattern that can be used to catch a variety of freshwater fish  including panfish, like crappy and bluegill.

The Woolly Worm is a wet fly or nymph that is fished underwater or a dry fly or terrestrial when tied not weighted with rooster hackle. It can be fished both on the dead drift or stripped in as a streamer. Weight can be added to the fly pattern with non-lead wire or a bead-head, which is a good option in stillwaters where panfish tend to hang out. It is often tied with a red yarn tail, black, yellow, or green chenille body, and a grizzly hackle. It is a popular fly for freshwater game fish. The fly can be fished in streams, rivers, ponds and lakes for trout, bass, bream, perch, etc. It can be fished in a variety of ways, including dead drifting, stripping in as a streamer, or adding weight with a bead head or non-lead wire. Tying this pattern in a variety of styles and colors to imitate large nymphs such as stoneflies, dragonflies, damselflies, or hellgrammites makes this a very good choice for many species.

The fly is tied on a streamer hook in the sizes from a six down to a 12; using a 6/0 thread, the tail is a piece of red yarn, the body is wrapped chenille in black, yellow, or green, and with a grizzly hackle. Sometimes the Woolly Worm might have a gold wire rib to increase the durability and other options might be to add lead-free wire, a bead head, or even a cone head to add some weight for the fly.

For yellow perch fly fishing use the following recipe : a Mustad Streamer Hook in a Size 12, Danville 210 denier thread in Black, a red wool yarn tail roughly a quarter length of the hook shank, a medium black Chenille body, a grizzly hackle to match the hook gap, and silver wire rib in size brassy to protect the hackle.
Use a combination of fishing methods the Woolly Worm when fishing a lake. After casting the fly, let it dead sink as it slowly sinks near weed beds or lily pads. If no response with that method change it up to either a twitch retrieve, a hand-twist retrieve, or a strip retrieve to determine what the fish prefer.


Woolly Worm
Fly of the Month 05.25

Woolly Worm
Hook:    Nymph or streamer, 3xL
Thread:    Black, 70 denier            
Weight:    (optional) 0.015 lead substitute wire, 6-10 wraps

Tail:    Small tag of yarn, bright color
Rib:    copper wire, counter wrapped    

Body:    Small Chenille or dubbing    
Hackle:    Grizzly, rooster (dry) or hen (wet)


Tying Directions:



- Tom Adams, Alen Baker