The creatively named Span Juan Worm comes from our good friend Brad Miller down in Southern Colorado. This is a pretty crafty little pattern using Span Flex, aka Flexi Floss, Super Floss and the like as a body material to create a squirmy little worm pattern that is just different enough from the norm to garner some pretty consistent finned attention. Brad threw in a couple of clear glass beads to add a bit of weight and sparkle and came up with a pattern that has been really coming on strong. Grab a few hooks, some beads and thread and a few different colors of Super Floss and go to town with this one. Red, brown, hot pink, orange and purple have all been hot colors and have been catching fish all over.
Materials Needed:
Hook: TMC 2488 #16
Bead: Clear Glass Mercury Beads, XS
Thread: 70 Denier UTC, Color to match Super Floss
Body: Super Floss, Flexi Floss or Span Flex…all the same thing, just different brand names so don’t get hung up on this part. Spandex elastic in wormy colors is what you are after.
Step 1
Start by placing two glass beads on the hook and sliding them up toward the eye. Start the tying thread behind the bead, being sure to leave a bit of space in front of the beads. Build a slightly tapered thread base from the back of the rear bead down to the bend of the hook.
Step 2
Slide the beads back against the front of the thread base and jump the thread forward over the beads to the front of the hook behind the eye.
Step 3
Make a few wraps of thread around the shank in front of the beads then jump the thread back over the beads again. Wrap the thread back to the bend of the hook.
Step 4
Tie in a two to two and a half inch length of Super Floss at the bend of the hook with several tightly wound stacked wraps. Try to keep these wraps right on top of each other to create a narrow tie down area.
Step 5
Pull the front end of the Super Floss back out of the way and wrap the thread up to the back of the beads.
Step 6
Jump the thread forward over the beads to the area behind the hook eye.
Step 7
Bind the Super Floss down again behind the hook eye with a few more tight, stacked turns.
Step 8
Pull the front end of the Super Floss back out of the way and whip finish in front of the long end, not over it. Be careful to make sure to set up the whip finish correctly when you work around the camera, although I failed to do that very well here…
Step 9
Add a coat of head cement over the thread underbody to harden things up a bit. Trim the worm to length if desired. I like them a little on the long side and wiggly.
