Over the years I’ve taken many trout on Inchworm patterns when they have passed up many standard flies. I’ve seen these naturals bouncing helplessly on the surface of the stream as they are suspended by their almost invisible thread that bring large trout racing to the surface to take them. Prompted by this reckless feeding manner I saw my fishing partner take three very large browns from a Pennsylvania stream along a 50 foot long undercut stream bank. By staying well back on the bank on the same side of the stream as the undercut he extended his fly rod out over the edge of the bank with just four feet of leader and his Murray’s Inchworm hanging straight down to the stream. He used a slow dapping fly action that made his Inchworm bounce up and down off the surface of the stream. About the second or third dap each of these browns took it solidly.
Another, somewhat tricky play is to present your Inchworm with a roll coast using a little extra punch as the leader rolls over so the fly lands on the stream with a splash. Frequently a trout will race from 6 feet away to take your Inchworm.
When the natural Inchworms were pretty well over for the season several years ago I was fishing one of my dry Inchworms that was pretty well chewed up and catching many trout along the shaded banks. Eventually a poor cast stuck my fly in a rotten log along the bank. When I pulled the strip of bark from the log to which my fly was stuck dozens of natural oak worms fell into the stream. I believe the trout were taking my chewed up Inchworm for an oak worm. Just be willing to experiment with an Inchworm and you may catch many trout.
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