By Jolly Jonnie, You've Got To Use Vorms!
Depending upon the weather, during the last few days
of June and into the month of July, on trout streams
in the eastern parts of our country a worm-hatch of
sorts takes place. This hatch of worms does not
originate in the stream, but comes from the trees
adjacent to it, and as such is basically a terrestrial
hatch. During my years of fishing on Michigan's Au Sable
River we called this the 'greenie-worm hatch.'
By Neil M. Travis, Montana
These greenie worms live in a variety of trees that
grow along the stream banks, but the one that seemed
to produce the most green worms are the scrub oaks. In
the jack pine barrens in Lower Michigan these scrubby
oaks are not common, but they are plentiful enough to
occasionally provide a fishable hatch of these worms.
I have used the word 'hatch' in its broadest form since
technically these worms are not hatching. The process
that makes them available to fish, specifically trout,
is a migratory urge; sort of the grass is greener idea.
Weather would occasionally play a part in depositing the
worms into the watery world of the trout, but most of
the greenie-worm fishing resulted from this urge to roam
on the worm's part.
An occasional worm falling onto the water is not sufficient
to produce a fishable hatch, but greenie worms seemed to
develop a mass exodus mentality during the early days of
summer. If the infestation of these worms is heavy a savvy
angler may enjoy several days of successful angling under
or near the streamside trees that are producing the worms.
When the urge to move strikes the worms they spin a line
of fine silken thread, and using this tread they lower
themselves down to the ground. Unlike spiders, these worms
can only go down they cannot climb back up. Once they start
down they are committed, and if their descent takes them
into the water they then become subject to the whims of
the currents like any other terrestrial. However, the
silken thread is quite strong, and it's not uncommon to
find the worms bouncing along on the surface of the stream
still clinging to their silken line. It is this phenomenon
that can elicit some of the most remarkable fishing
Greenie worm imitations are not particularly difficult to
tie, nor are they a thing of artistic beauty. Favorite
greenie worm imitations were usually nothing more than
deer hair dyed green. Innovative tyers would spin the
hair and clip it short, but those of us that were lazier
would simply tie in the tips of the hair at the bend of
the hook, pull the hair forward, and lash it down. Either
way you ended up with a long-shanked hook covered with
green hair. Like the worms they imitated such imitations
floated right in the surface film.
The trick to fishing greenie worms is first to find a
stretch of stream where the worms are spinning down to
the water in sufficient numbers to attract the attention
of the resident trout. Once located the angler should
position himself either upstream or up and across from
where the worms are hitting the water. From either
location the angler may cast his imitation on a slack
line down to the feeding fish. If the worms and the trout
are plentiful an angler may be able to spend several hours
during the heat of the day fishing to rising trout.
One summer on the Au Sable the greenie worms were especially
plentiful, and along the South Branch there was one particular
stretch that had several stands of scrub oaks growing right
along the banks. The water under these trees was relatively
deep and shady, thus providing a perfect setup for worms and
trout to meet.
One of my angling buddies was of Norwegian extraction, and upon
learning about the greenie worm explosion we set off for a day
of angling. When we arrived the greenie worms were exiting the
trees in record numbers, and the trout were already lining up
for the feast. A slight downstream wind was swinging the worms
downward at an angle, and many of the worms were just lightly
bouncing on the surface. This was resulting in explosive rises
as the trout were slashing at the bouncing worms as they hung
helpless at the ends of their silken tethers. So intent were
the trout on the bouncing worms that they were completely
ignoring the worms that fell into the water and were drifting
downstream. We quickly lengthened our leaders and positioned
ourselves so that we could skip our imitations on the surface
of the water just like the naturals. This involved a technique
much like 'high-stick nymphing' where all of the line is held
up off the water and only the leader and the fly are actually in
In order to achieve a natural action it was necessary to use
a fairly light tippet, and this resulted in many break-offs
on the strike since many of the fish were of substantial size.
The action was furious, and often both of us would be playing
a fish at the same time.
During the course of our fishing we did not notice another
angler approaching from downstream. I don't know how long
he watched us but finally he approached and called out to
"What are you using?" he asked.
Without missing a casting stroke my Norwegian friend replied,
"By jolly Jonnie you've got to use vorms!" ~ Neil M. Travis, Montana
From A Journal Archives