Out of the box thinking

[Chris Shelton]

Attachment 3210
I've been thinking out of the box again. We all know that bloodworm form an important part of the trouts diet. Now all the standard patterns are tied to the shape of the hook, with maybe the odd tail here and there. The thing is, bloodworm are bottom dwellers that are constantly on the move. Put it this way, they wriggle, not so? Now, a bloodworm that wriggles is going to be arching its body off the bottom aswell, similar to an inchworm. I came up with this pattern that i think will do the trick, because no matter how it falls on the bottom, there is always going to be a strand curved up off the bottom. I havent tried it yet, but I'm pretty sure it will work. It is this kind of thinking and adaption that I find incredibly rewarding when it pays off, and i'm dying to try my theory out on this one!

[Halfstone]

Interesting pattern,should perform well especially in rivers.What sort of retrieve do you have in mind with this pattern?,I reckon a "two quick pulls and pause" retrieve using fingers should be effective.

[Chris Shelton]

Interesting pattern,should perform well especially in rivers.What sort of retrieve do you have in mind with this pattern?,I reckon a "two quick pulls and pause" retrieve using fingers should be effective.

I'm thinking dead static, with maybe the odd twitch to attract attention from a short distance.

This is not the final product yet, I was basically buggering around with the idea, and to get the loops to kinda form figure of eights, I secured them in the middle of the shank with some black cotton after tying the fly, but to refine the idea a bit, I think I will tie another one using a double turn of red cotton, or trapping the individual coils at different points with the ribbing. What I don't want is something too symetrical, I think it needs to look almost like a little cluster of bloodworm.

[poppernel]

Attachment 3210
I've been thinking out of the box again. We all know that bloodworm form an important part of the trouts diet. Now all the standard patterns are tied to the shape of the hook, with maybe the odd tail here and there. The thing is, bloodworm are bottom dwellers that are constantly on the move. Put it this way, they wriggle, not so? Now, a bloodworm that wriggles is going to be arching its body off the bottom aswell, similar to an inchworm. I came up with this pattern that i think will do the trick, because no matter how it falls on the bottom, there is always going to be a strand curved up off the bottom. I havent tried it yet, but I'm pretty sure it will work. It is this kind of thinking and adaption that I find incredibly rewarding when it pays off, and i'm dying to try my theory out on this one!

Chris,

If I may ask, what material is that?

[Halfstone]

What about using flourecent red floss,maybe it will provide a bit more movement?

[Chris Shelton]

What about using flourecent red floss,maybe it will provide a bit more movement?

One could experiment with softer floss, but in keeping with my original thought process, I would still want to see the inchworm effect, so I would still tie it in multiple loops.

Hi Pops, the stuff is basically a triple stranded metalized floss of sorts that I got at a haberdashery many years ago. I ribbed the hook with a length of a full triple strand, but left a tag at the bottom which I unraveled to give me thinner individual strands. I looped these back to the head and tied off.

[Chris Shelton]

I must tell you guys what put me onto this thinking, and it is about to give rise to a lot more experimentation with other subsurface patterns. I have a water tank in my garden that the mosquitos have gotten to, and I was watching some of the swimming mosquito larvae at work. Some of them wiggle from side to side so quickly, with their heads almost touching both sides of their tails in a blink of an eye, that at a quick glance they look like perfect figure of eights. I am already thinking along the lines of a darker figure of eight shaped mosquito larva fly to be fished just subsurface.

[JamesW]

I must tell you guys what put me onto this thinking, and it is about to give rise to a lot more experimentation with other subsurface patterns. I have a water tank in my garden that the mosquitos have gotten to, and I was watching some of the swimming mosquito larvae at work. Some of them wiggle from side to side so quickly, with their heads almost touching both sides of their tails in a blink of an eye, that at a quick glance they look like perfect figure of eights. I am already thinking along the lines of a darker figure of eight shaped mosquito larva fly to be fished just subsurface.

Had a simillar experience the other day. found a half drum filled with water, it had been for a while, and was intriqued to see many insects which i had found on the stillwaters i fish! After watching this drum for half an hour i think i learnt more then days of reading any book could've taught me!
Saw the exact same blood worm behaviour! I was thinking of 'scoring' the tail so it becomes like a pigs tail, because that is the movement i saw the bloodworms making, really was amazing to watch. . . was also amazing to watch the buzzers turn into insects and fly away!
Now that i have seen what to look for in my small back garden drum, i feel a lot more comfortable approaching a stillwater

[Gerrit Viljoen]

Attachment 3210
I've been thinking out of the box again. We all know that bloodworm form an important part of the trouts diet. Now all the standard patterns are tied to the shape of the hook, with maybe the odd tail here and there. The thing is, bloodworm are bottom dwellers that are constantly on the move. Put it this way, they wriggle, not so? Now, a bloodworm that wriggles is going to be arching its body off the bottom aswell, similar to an inchworm. I came up with this pattern that i think will do the trick, because no matter how it falls on the bottom, there is always going to be a strand curved up off the bottom. I havent tried it yet, but I'm pretty sure it will work. It is this kind of thinking and adaption that I find incredibly rewarding when it pays off, and i'm dying to try my theory out on this one!

I like I like!!!! Nice going Chris.

Out of the box thinking is the future of tying IMO hence my new Avatar ie inspiration for my "mini bird".

It's maiden voyage is about to be tested.Remember my hatched bird thread?

Please give us an update on how it fared ok

G

[Jasper]

Chris ... I tried something like yours this year (at Millstream) - but I found a small tubifex tied with thin red floss tail worked better .... which of course proves NOTHING at all!! ... when I lived in Jhb I used to buy tubifex off schoolboys who dug them up out of the mud in Zoo Lake ... big clumps of them .... and as you say .. the move in that figure of eight while ascending the water table ... but then seem to "relax" and sink slowly ... straightened out. Maybe this is why I have had many takes on the drop while using these flies??