Worm Hatch Has started!!!!!
Here is our new skiff!! 750 lb with power floats skinny and poles great, Perfect for the Sand Flats and chasing tailing Carp on the mud, Just had a few days open up July 10 and 12 also the 18-21,And a few opening for Aug left as well. 207-671-4330
Warm water and high tides. Just the right combination for a worm "hatch" in the Nor'east. before you know it, the water rushing out of estuaries and off the mud flats is in the high 60-70 degree range. That's warm enough to give marine worms a nudge.
""Worm Next To a size 4 Merkin Crab""
Next New Moon July 11
Water Temp 68 This could be good!!!!
There not much that can pull bass away from so much food they have in the cool water on the outter island of Casco Bay other than when the water temperatures around Casco Bay push into the mid and high 60s, and we have moon tides, the worm "hatch" season is in full swing for us.
Worm "hatch" is really a misnomer. These wigglers aren't morphing the way insects do. In fact, the event isn't a "hatch" at all, but a spawn when sexually active sea worms do, indeed, change shape and coloration.
When Nature comes a knockin' on the worm hole door, spring tides are like Bolero for the worms, but spawning swarms need not be confined to those days just before, during and after a full or new moon. It can happen at almost any time, so Nor'east Saltwater fly rodders should make it a point to carry at least a few cinderworm patterns from now through September.
In general, the worms are red with one light-colored end, but colors can shift from location to location.
I'm not a biologist, so I'm not even going to try to identify all of these varieties, but in his book, A Fly-Fisher's Guide to Saltwater Naturals and their Imitations,George V. Roberts, Jr. classifies them as the genus Nereis. He says the species include all of our names for marine worms: cinderworms, mussel worms, pileworms, sandworms and bloodworms. Whether or not cinderworm is an actual species or simply a nickname still escapes me. If anyone has a definitive answer, please let me know.
For most fly rodders, it's enough to know that the worms are there and when they are, striped bass usually aren't far away.
A worm swarm to a school of stripers is like a Free Lunch sign to a Hockey team. Stripers gather at the mouth of an estuary or any outflow where worms are active and start to binge.
The worms are fairly easy pickin's as they are swept along by the outgoing tide, but they are not at the total mercy of the current. Part of the spawning transformation is the growth of paddle-like appendages, again along the rear of the worm. It helps to help propel them toward the surface, so they're actually coming at us tail first in an effort to create more worms. This is why we mistakenly refer to the "tail" as the "head," if, indeed, the distinction has any significance, except to another worm. Though the worms may appear to be trapped in a current, they are actually wiggling their way up and your presentation should try to duplicate this movement.
True. The stripers are feeding on the surface. That much is evident from all the slurping that goes on during a swarm, but you need not rely solely on a floating line. Actually, an Intermediate line is can be a better choice, mostly because of its significantly smaller diameter which is less likely to be effected by the current. Clear fly lines may also be a plus,On the mud flat in Casco Bay I use Floating lines 90 % of the time but what seems to work best is a slightly longer leader than what Nor'east Saltwater fly rodders might normally use, a twitching presentation and a little bit of luck. Don't overburden the presentation with a heavy pound-test tippet, either. Keep it at 12 and under.
Bear in mind, too, that these worms don't have the power to propel themselves home again. After the worms spawn, they die and the incoming water gently delivers next year's worm swarm home, so fly fishing on the outgoing beach side of an outflow can often be productive, too.
It is not uncommon to find a worm swarm in the somewhat gentler currents of a harbor, particularly one that has rich wetlands at its head. In this case, plan on working the shoreline all the way to the mouth of the harbor, keeping in mind that it will take a little longer for the worms to be swept to your location. Such situations may also send somewhat of a warm swarm along an adjacent, open-water beach front.
Have fun and tell them you might be late for work on Monday and Tuesday next week.
