I am taking a break from the Caddis posts to honor a "fly" that got me a day saving trout a few days ago. The SanJaun Worm. Possible the simplest fly one can tie, the easiest natural food to imitate, and more than likely the most despised fly a purist can have in their box. I myself have looked on with distain at the corn and worm fishers that follow the stocking truck near my home waters like rats behind the pied piper. More than likely this intense dislike of the innocent worm stems from visions of these type of 'bait fishermen' that plague pure waters. Today I am swallowing that elitist attitude to defend the old SanJaun.
The other day, like some of you had already read, I finally made it to the water to wet a fly and test my ’skill’ at hooking trout. The weather was cold - Its SC so no, snow is usually not involved so I’ll not compare SC cold with cold from western or northern states - and the trout down here are southern trout and go deep when the weather drops. I knew I had to go deep to find the trout so the day started with heavy, time tested flies. First I tied on a few flies I’ve recently tied; some buggers, a Black Nose, a few other minnow imitations, fancy nymphs, not so fancy nymphs, and even a crawfish (a desperate act since although a beautiful fly, I have never had any luck with it).
After hours of frustration I looked into my box with disgust searching for something that would save me from blanking this trip and there it was. No… not in my box. Down on the small bit of sand I was sulking on. Partly covered with leaves and left for dead was a pale worm recently drowned by the heavy water flow that had flooded the river high on its banks. So I looked again into my box and down in a corner was a fly I had avoided all day. A fly I tied just to pass time and to ‘have just incase’. The pale red SanJaun Worm.
It worked, when no other fly would. In high fairly clear water loaded with leaves and sticks, the SanJuan came to my rescue. Today I say to the SanJaun “I salute you”………At least until the next time when I’ll surely skip over you countless times in favor of the neatly tied buddies of yours that look better and took more time to tie. You’ll understand right?…..
I fully know why you avoid the worm and most of us do but its a total go to for most guides, when we hear folks say they did well on sj's Its like nails on a chalk board right? We gaze at our box and see the stupid worm sittin there and hate it again, but when you break down and see it tied to a piece of line Its like seeing an old friend. One way to think is worms are there just like everything else and fish eat them,, sometimes one must go off of this, Right?
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