San Eddidino Worm

The San Juan Worm fly is typically a length of red chenille tied to a scud hook although it has many variations.  Other common colors are pink, orange, tan and white.  It comes both with and without added weight and sometimes includes a bead(s).

Praised and despised for both it's simplicity and effectiveness the San Juan Worm is the favorite fly of many who cast the long rod although don't expect most of them to admit it anytime soon.  It is often the first fly tied by many people trying their hand at fly tying for the first time.

Many people are not aware that there is a species of aquatic earth worm that inhabits the silty bottom of the San Juan River in New Mexico called the San Juan Worm.  Pretty much anywhere you can find fresh water you can also find species of aquatic worms.  

Thinking back I can only remember one instance where I have caught a trout using a San Juan Worm but it is probably because it was one of the few times I have ever used it.  For many years I thought it was the stupidest looking pattern in my box and it was almost relegated to the island of misfit flies until I remember my dad mentioning to me that it was some peoples favorite pattern.  Another factor that contributed to the San Juan collecting dust in my fly box  is that I have had such great success with nymphs, dry flies, wet flies and streamers.  It seems as though every fly I have ever touched has turned into fishing gold but that's a story for another time.

A few months back I was surfing Craigslist and came across an advertisement where a guy was selling his own variation of the San Juan Worm narcissisticly named the San Ron Worm.  Invented by Ron Gaddy the San Ron Worms main ingredient is the tentacles found on a googly ball toy.

  

After reading the description of how well it worked I was reminded of the feeling I had the first time I saw the infomercial for the "Flying Lure" growing up.  I can still remember the first summer after that infomercial aired it seemed like everyone had added Flying Lures to their tackle boxes.  It seems as though I must have never learned my lesson from my own Flying Lure experiment because I made a commitment to myself that San Ron worms would have a place in my fly box for the 2014 season.

While the old Eddie would have just ordered some San Ron Worms from the Craigslist post the new Eddie was determined to make them himself.  Too often I have lazily resorted to tapping my deep pockets when in need of something but I have come to appreciate the feeling I get when I use flies that I have tied myself to catch trophy trout.

I set out on a course to locate a Googly ball for use in my tying of the San Ron Worm.  My initial efforts to locate one using the Google failed and I was soon distracted with my newly discovered fascination with beautiful women.

A month or so later I was in Joe's Sporting Goods in Saint Paul where some Impulse Reactionary Bait caught my eye.  Seeing it brought back a flood of emotion.  I recalled my plans to make my own San Ron Worms and these little pink worms resembled the tentacles used to make the San Ron Worm.  I quickly added them to the pile of other worthless crap that I ended up purchasing that day.

   

During my last minute Christmas shopping for 2013 I visited the Hub Hobby Center in Roseville to buy gifts for my five nieces.  Besides scoring some nice gifts for the nieces I was ecstatic when I spotted the googly balls.  I purchased one of them as a Christmas present to myself.  That night while others had visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads I had San Ron Worms munching through my brain tissue.

For years my buddy Andrew and I have talked about getting together and tying up some flies.  Last night we finally "walked the walk" when I traveled to Andrew's house in Coon Rapids with all of my fly tying stuff.  Andrew was proud to show me how he had set up his fly tying stuff at his new house.

Here is a photo I took of my friends Andrew and Jeff in the fall of 2012 while fishing the Rush River between Stonehammer and Martell.

When I opened up my box full of materials for flies that I have always planned on tying but never did I saw the googly ball and the Impulse Worms.  I figured that I should warm up by tying some San Rons since you can't really get much simpler when it comes to fly tying.  Since the flies that I would be tying with the Impulse Worms wouldn't technically be San Ron Worms I decided to call them "San Eddidino's".  

Later on I traded a San Eddidino plus one of my size 8 Louie Specials to Andrew for a size 2 Louie Special that he had tied.  I always wanted one of Andrew's Louie Specials because Gary told Andrew how they should look.

At some point this summer probably when my arm needs a break from casting Articulated Streamers I will test out the San Ron Worms and the San Eddidinos and I will let you know how well they perform.

The End

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