For many saltwater anglers the term "worm hatch" has a magical ring to it. When the worms spawn, the fish usually go berserk, be it trout, stripers or tarpon. As one writer puts it: It's like yelling "free lunch" to a high school football team.
The clam worms or rag worms (Latin: Nereididae or formerly Nereidae) are stable food for our Scandinavian sea trout in the spring, and for many saltwater anglers the term "worm hatch" has a magical ring to it. When the polychaete worms swim freely to spawn, the fish usually go berserk, be it trout, stripers, tarpon or a number of other species. As one writer puts it: It's like yelling "free lunch" to a high school football team.
The worms usually live in or near the bottom, but during a short period, typically in the early spring and in connection with a certain moon phase, the worms will rise from the bottom and swim freely in the water.
The amount of food in the water makes fish as well as birds start feeding frantically. You see birds hovering over the water and diving for the worms, which can be found in the thousands. As anglers we see the worms in the water in large numbers, which is normally quite uncommon.
And the fish of course dive into this orgy with very little reluctance. So for these few days every year where the worms are prolific, we need a worm pattern.
I have seen lots of these patterns in my time, most of them large and complex like "The Real Borsteorm", the MOAL or a large number of more or less innovative, but always very complex patterns, spotted at fly tying shows or in fly shops.
Most of these are far too cumbersome to tie for my taste, and having them in the box for the once every second-or-third-year occasion that I need them, feels like a waste of flybox space and tying time.
For many saltwater anglers the term "worm hatch" has a magical ring to it
My personal best clam worm imitation has been a simple, long winged zonker. I tied a handful a couple of years ago using a black cone head, a plain black rabbit zonker strip and was tied on a heavy black hook.
That particular fly forms the base for this Mundane Clam Worm. I originally used the black Tiemco TMC 700 hook, but you can change the hook to the Mundane Fly Project's Kamasan B175 or any short shank saltwater hook, which is easier to find. The black or blue cone can be replaced by an easier accessible brass bead or cone. Dye it black or any color with a marker, or varnish it in the color you desire. The fur can be any zonker strip. Rabbit is very common and easy to find, but I just got hold of some really long haired Eumer zonker strips cut from Finn Racoon, and that only makes the worm longer and more mobile. The commonly available rabbit will do just fine.
This pattern is a part of The Mundane Fly Project, which aims to create really simple patterns with few common materials.
There will be more on the project as more patterns get published.
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