Dale Hes contacted me over the weekend after he ‘bumped’ into Andre van Wyk on the internet about his recent success with a modified, Improved Bloody Squirmy. He had copied the fly I used for carp and added his own subtle changes and had the following to say:
“Thought I would just make touch with you…I just wanted to share with you the success I’ve had on a slightly modified Bloody Squirmy.
I have been hitting this private farm dam often for post-work and weekend sessions. It is actually a more than decent fishery for warmwater species. In the past three sessions, I got what I’d simply call a ‘Dam Slam’. That is catching a good size bass, trophy kurper and bluegill in one session. All of the kurper, many of the bass and several of the bluegill took a #8 Bloody Squirmy tied on a red Daiichi Octopus hook, with a long-hair chenille or black hackle collar, suspended underneath a popper.
Bluegills are currently on their nests and virtually unspookable. The squirmy was a bit large for them so I missed quite a few takes, but did hook several after jigging in front of their faces. Most of these fish have however been caught on smaller flies. They are all of good size, with my largest weighing in at 900 grams.
There are some big male blue kurper (some possibly hybridised with Niles, not sure) patrolling their territories too, and the squirmy has proven exceptionally effective at enticing them to take a fly. I have been casting into the middle of their patrol area, and some take it within a couple of casts. I’ve had to be very patient with others, trying for up to 20 minutes until they eventually sucked the fly in and pulled the popper below the surface. These kurper have AVERAGED 1.5 kg, with the biggest a touch over 2 kg.
The bass have been very responsive to the squirmy, with the biggest coming in at 1.3 kg. Wednesday afternoon proved to be my best ever session at this dam. The 2 kg kurper, 900 gram bluegill and 1.3 kg bass were all caught within three hours, with my total fish count at 4 bluegill, 3 kurper and 4 bass. It’s safe to say that I now have incredible confidence in this fly! Time to have a crack at the Berg River carp with it on Sunday.
Must give credit to you, as I came across the basic pattern from your write-ups on Feathers and Fluoro.
PS – The kurper have not responded in the same way to other flies, so it is a little more than just an aggressive response to any fly.”
Dale also confirmed today that he got the Berg River carp under his belt on the modified squirmy pattern too. Well done Dale, it brings me much joy to get positive feedback from readers (and made me jealous too)!
Here are the original posts:
absolutely brilliant patterns and SBS presentations. Bravo!
Did you strip your fly in ?