Eliminator Worm

by Ken Hanley

Here's a fly that anglers working both coasts can appreciate. Western flyfishers will find the worm effective for a wide variety of species including flatfish, rockfish, and surfperch. Eastern anglers can target the nocturnal activities of those slurping striped bass.

Jeff Yamagata originally conceived the pattern as a freshwater tempter for largemouth bass. When I came across the fly I immediately thought of the saltwater applications it could adapt to. It was simply a matter of adjusting the color variations to match the marine foodchain and experimenting a bit with the tail's length. Having worked more with the worm this past season, I'm delighted to report it's rapidly becoming one of my "hit parade" for various inshore adventures.

Materials List:

Tying Sequence:


Step One

Slip the bead onto your hook and place the hook into the vise. Start your thread just in front of the hook's point. Wrap back to the beginning of the bend.

To attach the mono weed guard, place it over the base of thread, secure it by continuing to wrap down the bend approximately one eighth inch. For extra insurance wrap back over the mono ending at your original tie-in position. At this point use a few half hitches, or whip finish, and apply a healthy dose of head cement.

Remove the hook from your vise.



Step Two

Part A: To prepare the tail, you'll need to cut a 9 inch length of both Crystal chenille and Ultra chenille. You'll also need a short tag of fleece. Place both of the chenille materials into your vise (be sure to secure them by the tip). If you have a rotary vise, simply stretch the material forward and begin spinning it into a cord.

For those of you without a rotary feature follow this recommended protocol. Attach a pair of hackle pliers to the loose ends of chenille. Next attach a dubbing twister (such as Cal Bird's tool) to the hackle pliers. Stretch out the material and begin twisting it into a cord. Twist until the material becomes tight.

Drape the small tag of fleece or marabou material at the center of the cord. Continue to keep the cord under tension with your hackle plier/twister. Holding the fleece in place with your fingers. and creating a slight pressure by pulling down, spin the tag material. As you spin the fleece you'll notice the cord will "back twist" onto itself. To better facilitate this back twisting technique, simply let your plier hand feed the cord toward the vise.

Part B: The next phase is to tie down the tip material. To do this place the tip end into the vise. The end should not extend more than a half inch or so. Attach your thread to the tip and wrap six to ten turns. Whip finish the tip and apply a drop of head cement.



Step Three

Replace the hook into your vise. Attach the tying thread onto the hook just behind the bead. Now tie on the complete tail assembly. Wrap your thread back to the weed guard. Apply a thin layer of Flexament over the thread wrapped tail section.



Step Four

To complete the building of the body create a dubbing loop. Place your dubbing material into the loop and twist. Wrap the dubbing back to the front, just behind the bead head. Whip finish.



Step Five

Reattach your thread in front of the bead. To make more space just push back on the bead. Now bring your weed guard material up through the eye. The mono guard loop should extend down, slightly past the hook's point. Create a bend in the mono tag that exits up through the eye. Build your head by wrapping your thread over the tag. Trim off any extra mono and whip finish. Be sure to apply head cement as the final step to building your Eliminator Worm. ###


Copyright 1996 Reel-Time