Fishing Technique

The Upstream Worm

Fishing techniques aren’t particularly secret.
You just have to pay attention, such as using live
bait the way fly fishermen present a dry fly, so it
floats downstream in a natural manner.

Everybody called him “Jes’ George.” I was a kid at the time, and Jes’ George was kind of a hero to me. You probably knew somebody just like him when you were growing up. Hung out around the fishing camp. Always had a three-day beard, and, probably, a can of beer under the boat seat.

He’d introduce himself as George. If someone asked “George who?” he’d mumble, “George. Jes’ George.”

Jes’ George knew every trick there was to know about bait fishing, and he taught me many of them, each time swearing me to secrecy with a conspiratorial wink. The best fishing technique I learned from him, however, was how to fish worms in streams. “You want the worm to drift naturally in the current,” he told me, “like it just washed into the creek.”

Until then I’d fished worms like everybody else. Either I’d suspend them under a bobber or I’d use enough weight to anchor them to the bottom. In either case, a gob of worms was threaded on the hook. Propping the rod in a forked stick, I’d wait until a fish found the bait. Half the time small fish stole the worms by pecking it. The other half I’d set the hook too soon, or too late, and the fish would be gone.

Occasionally, far too infrequently for me, everything would work right and I’d catch one.

Once I’d learned Jes’ George’s upstream worm fishing technique, however, things changed for the better.

Upstream worming takes its cue from fly fishermen, who long ago learned that a fly drifting downstream in a natural manner takes more fish than one presented any other way. The upstream worming fishing technique is the live-bait equivalent of a drag-free float.

Successful upstream worming is strictly a light-line technique. Six pound test works well, with lighter lines of four- and two-pound even better.

Ultralite spinning rods make the most sense for this style of fishing. If they have any fault it’s in their length, or lack of it. Most rod makers, unfortunately, connote “light” with “short.” A longer rod, however, helps the fisherman control the line better. A longer rod lets a talented caster roll the bait into pockets and under brush in a more natural way.

Use the longest ultralite rod you can find. Or you might even mount a spinning reel on a fly rod blank, replacing the small snake guides with those designed for spinning rods.

If there’s any real secret to the upstream worming fishing technique it’s in the type and amount of weight used. The goal is to put just enough weight on the line to carry the worm to the stream bed, but not so much as to interfere with a natural drift.

My upstream worming kit always includes a pack of small split shot. And I do mean small. I’m talking about the same amount of weight a fly fisherman might use. In addition to split shot, one of those matchbooks of lead ribbon can be very handy. These weights are cut to length, then spiral wound around the line, allowing the angler to precisely fine-tune the amount of weight used.

Often overlooked is that the hook, itself, provides weight. In slow drifts you may need no other weight. At all times, however, you want to use a fine-wire hook, because that type interferes least with natural worm movement. Small, fine-wire hooks can hold surprisingly big fish. Ask any bluegill fisherman who’s hooked and landed a largemouth bass on a #10 bait hook.

The basic approach to the upstream worming fishing technique is simple. Start by tying a fine-wire hook to the end of the line, add a worm, and cast it straight upstream a short distance. It is important that the current’s flow match the current where you expect to find the fish. Watch what happens to the bait.

The goal with this fishing technique is to have the worm drift down to the bottom, then roll and tumble back towards you. If the worm rides too high in the current, start adding weight, either split shot or matchstick ribbons, until there is just enough to carry the worm to the bottom yet still allow it to drift back towards you. Add the weight four to six inches above the hook. If you need a second or even a third split shot, space them out about two inches apart, rather than bunching them together. It’s always better to use several small weights spaced out, rather than a single larger weight.

Now you’re ready to fish. Work yourself into position for a straight or slightly quartering upstream cast. Hook a new worm just once through the collar. Although this works best with nightcrawlers, red worms work too if the hook is fine enough.

Live worms in the water never look bunched up and tied in knots. By hooking the worm just once through the collar you assure a natural presentation as the bait tumbles downstream.

Yes, you may lose worms to nibblers. But that’s more than made up for by the increased number of keepers you’ll hook and land!

As the worm drifts back to you, take in slack line. That’s another reason for a long rod. You can control much of the slack, as well as direct the bait’s movement, merely by lifting and moving the rod tip. With a short rod you must use the reel constantly to take up slack.

Long casts are neither necessary nor desirable with this fishing technique. Stream fish take up feeding stations, usually where there is enough current flow to carry food to them, but where they can hold in slacker water. Stream fish also hold under protective cover and dart out to take bait as it drifts by. Could be an undercut bank, overhanging roots, or a boulder in the middle of the stream.

Feeding fish almost always face upstream, into the current. So it’s comparatively easy to get close to them. Wade upstream to within 20 or 30 feet of where you believe a fish is feeding, then gently lob the bait a little upstream of that location.

A worm presented this way, so it drifts naturally down to the fish, is surefire medicine in flowing water.

Jes’ ask George!

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