Ehlers’ Foam Tail Superworm

There’s a lot going on with this fly, but if you take it step by step, none of the individual parts are difficult to tie. You can also leave out some of the tail elements to slim it down, or substitute in synthetic materials to make it slinkier or flashier. Just be mindful when trimming the spun deer hair into the collar shape, since it’s easy to take off too much.

HOOK: EWG SIZE 1/0 OR 2/0

TAIL: RABBIT-FUR ZONKER STRIP, 2 TO 4 TIMES LONGER THAN THE HOOK

BODY: PALMERED ZONKER STRIP (PICTURED), SADDLE HACKLE OR SIMILAR

FLASH: 2 TO 10 STRANDS OF FLASHABOU

LEGS: RUBBER STRANDS

WEIGHT: LEAD DUMBBELL

FLOTATION: CRAFT FOAM

FOR DECADES, I envied Bassmasterstyle soft-plastics and flipping jigs. In particular, I longed for a largemouth fly to hop along a weedy bottom with its extremities waving seductively to trigger a bite. The Superworm finally does that, with a strip of foam seductively floating the rabbit strip tail as the other bits sparkle and wiggle. And the dumbbell sinks the extra-wide-gap (EWG) hook point up, while the rabbit fur stretched across the gap makes it fairly weedless. Unlike a flipping jig, the Superworm won’t plunge through heavy cover. It sinks quickly in moderate weeds, however, and you can fearlessly bounce, drag or swim it along the bottom. Honestly, this thing casts like a chicken thigh, but it’s tolerable on a short line. As they’ll do with small soft-plastics, bass tend to gently slurp it in, so keep your line tight, and strip-set if you feel anything. With its weird hook and odd use of materials, the Superworm is confusing to tie at first, but online videos will get you through it. A drop of gel superglue works well for the tiny piece of foam on the tail. I also usually omit the weedguard, which simplifies things a lot.