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Sometimes you want a good worm imitation in your fly-box. Here's a worm pattern you can tie.

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.

This fly is originally meant to be an imitation of a small clamworm like a small Nereis, but can be considered a generic pattern more than an exact imitation of these polychaetes. It takes its outset in the red body feathers of the Golden Pheasant.

A mobile worm imitation

Every year in March and April the rag worms emerge from the bottom to secure the next generation. They swim freely in the water, wiggling from one side to the other. Sea gulls feed on the from above and many fish species seem to focus on them from beneath.

I have some remote relatives in Boston who occasionally sends over christmas gifts to my kids. This year the gifts were packed with some particularly interesting string. This string was braided in the colors red and green with some shiny material laid in. It said "flies" all over it! I scavenged the remains from the unpacking and stoved it away between my fly tying materials.