How to extinct the San Juan Worm without half trying

I’ve been holding this one close to the vest for fear of upsetting the Roughfisher, knowing once he catches a glimpse of what’s possible, we’ll be seeing “Darth Earthworm” and the San Juan Worm’s days are numbered.

Paton Glittallic yarn

It’s actually two yarns loosely wrapped together. One is best described as a trilobal-polyester that glitters like broken glass, intertwined with a soft synthetic braid that can be used as a flat yarn, or you can stuff things inside it to stretch it into a veined mayfly wing, or seal the ends to make a San Juan Worm-killer.

Pink and Amber

The woven strand looks like a shed reptile skin – and whips around in the water like a snake. I used it for the shellback on the October Caddis earlier, and am converting the old SJW to this – more mobile flavor.

The downside is that not a lot of colors are available, and being polyester, dyeing what’s needed is more work than I care to endure. Special polyester dyes are required as is a chemical fixative and a lot of heat.

SJW Killer

I flamed the end to melt some rigidity into the tube, threaded it over a 4mm gold bead and added the SJW headpiece. Both tubes are sealed with a lighter to complete the fly. The motion is so much more wormlike than the velvet chenille that I’m tempted to eat it.

What’s needed is a good rich Olive, but I’ve only found the material in black, Lilac Lame (pink), Cream Gleam, Blue Flash, and Maroon Shine. It’s about $2 per skein on EBay.

Tags: San Juan Worm, Paton Glittallic, Polyester, Lurex, October Caddis, fly tying material, Roughfisher.com. trilobal yarn,

6 thoughts on “How to extinct the San Juan Worm without half trying

  1. craig

    my wife found the cream gleam at one of the dollar stores. for a dollar a skein, imagine.

    i tried using it several ways, the buggiest was to use it as dubbing. just pull one end until the fibers unravel, even the heat compressed glitter sections unravel.

    usually i seperate the flash filaments from the main yarn, then palmer it full length or tie it in at the thorax. you get a denser bit of flash that way.

    i was orignally using it for GRHEs, but tied some like Killer Bugs, with and without wire, the local fish ate them as they came.

    i did pick up a couple of small carp using a beadhead version, but mostly bass and panfish.

  2. KBarton10

    It’s certainly a “chin scratcher” – the mind envisions about 27 uses for one or the other filament – and only testing reveals which have real merit.

    I’m still fiddling with the shiny braid – haven’t yet moved to the flashy “polar bear” filament yet.

    It sure looks tasty.

  3. KBarton10 Post author

    Permanent marker works to color it, but I don’t know how colorfast that might be – or how long it will last, Polyester is tough stuff.

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