We’ve received a lot of email in the past couple of days asking for our spin on a local story that has evolved over the past week or so - having to do specifically with a fly called a “Gob o’ Worms”.

These stories seem to take on a life of their own - but here’s a very condensed version of at least what we understand of things, which admittedly is probably only a small part of a long story.  It’s no secret that a lot of fish, some big and very big fish, have been caught here in Montana and other locales by bait fisherman using worms.  As a youth decades ago I fished with bait because that’s what my family and friends did - many of us cut our fishing teeth baiting a hook or two.

The story goes that an intrepid fly fisherman from Ennis had a vision one day of a fly to imitate a collection of worms or worm parts on a hook, and the “Gob o’ Worms” was born, and apparently fished with some success locally, and probably in many parts of the fishing west.  We’ve seen a few of these interesting creations in fly boxes around Montana over the years, usually tucked away so as not to be readily apparent, and have even stumbled across a fly fishermen or two on the river (the Madison no less) throwing one. 

There is a well done blog devoted to fishing in Yellowstone run by a guy we only know as Yellowstoner who made a post a few days ago mentioning the fly - apparently drawing significant ire from some of the local crowd who have used the fly in the past.  The rancor has apparently been sufficient to prompt another post on Yellowstoner’s blog (Fly Fishing In Yellowstone National Park) issuing an apology of sorts and he has very appropriately and thoughtfully discussed the art of fly fishing with a worm imitation.  He also in a way apologized for “outing” a fly pattern that at least some of the fly fishers in the area appear to have thought was a high powered fly - maybe even in the ranks of a secret weapon.

Our simple minded view is that fly fisherman can be a persnickety lot (just ask Bob Jacklin about that after his “big fish” on the Madison), and we as fly fisherman are sometimes quick to the critique and criticism of our fellow fisherman. 

Some fish flies tied only with natural materials eschewing synthetics, some fish flies that only imitate specific naturals, some embrace synthetics in their tying and get pretty damned creative - most probably don’t really give a hoot and just want to enjoy the river, the country side, their friends, and catch fish.  

We think Yellowstoner has paid his dues, and folks should go back to enjoying the fall fishing and catch some fish - whether or not that’s done using a gob o’ worms is up to you.  Visit Yellowstoner’s blog yourself with the link above - he writes well about the area and and knows his way around. 

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Tags: Best Fly Fishing Yellowstone: Random Team Ramblings