GET DOWN

Part of the inspiration for this pattern came from Mr Fryhover. He gave me a worm that was wrapped with a red condom. Shortly thereafter, I was fishing in Montana and saw a worm that was wrapped in red thread, and ribbed with spaced silver micro hotwire. That was when the light bulb went off..."why not just wrap a large hook with heavy gage hot wire!" I have never used this pattern for anything but trout, and have had it in my box for about 5 years. The first time I fished it was on the Bighorn and it was lights out. Then fished it at the Gunnison, lights out again. The big test came at Cheesman Canyon during the high spring flows, where it was able to fool some of the bigger, more knowledgable fish at Cheesman. The get down worm is a great attractor/lead fly for several reasons. It's big and colorful, and it weighs more than any other fly in your box, bar none. That combination makes it the perfect go–to for almost any situation year round, but I have found it to be especially effective in the early season when flows are high and you need something heavy and colorful. (I don't Czech nymph, but I think it would be a good pattern for this type of nymphing) On my first outing with this pattern (at the Bighorn), the biggest fish taken the whole trip took a GDW, an 8 lb rainbow that had seen a few artificial patterns in its day. Usually when you have a fish of that size on, the angler is concerned about popping the hook, not so with the GDW. Worm patterns need to 'get down' to the bottom as quickly as possible, having a super heavy worm just makes sense. The ribbing wrapped look of the heavy wire closely mimics a real worm body. The colorful nature of the pattern also attracts fish. Lastly, the big hook can make an angler feel comfortable about his chances of landing the fish once it is on.