The San Juan Worm

Wade Rivers said:
From Oregon Regs:

  • Bait: Any item used to attract fish that is not an artificial fly, lure or attractor. Molded soft plastic or rubber imitations of worms, eggs, insects, bait fish, crayfish, etc. are considered baits. Scent is not considered bait.
  • Artificial fly: A fly is a hook, dressed with conventional natural or synthetic fly tying materials. Tied in conjunction with other materials, wire (lead or other) used to weight the fly and dumbbell eyes or beads (metal, glass or plastic) may be part of the fly. A fly does not include sinkers, molded weights, spinners, spoons or similar attractors.
  • Lure: An artificial device, complete with hooks, intended to attract and entice fish; excludes artificial flies or attractors. Corkies, spin-n-glos, birdy drifters, leadhead jigs, hard plastic beads, etc. are considered lures. Molded soft plastic or rubber imitations of worms, eggs, insects, bait fish, crayfish, etc. are considered baits.
Just spit ballin' here but IMHO rubber legs are OK. Squirmies? Hmmm? Probably OK too because you don't buy them already molded looking like a worm imitation. You buy a long piece of stretchy stuff and fashion them into a "fly". Kind of a weak arguement.

BTW, I've had my license checked 4 times just this year in Central Oregon: Diamond, Metolius, Chickahominy and Billy C
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I was just about to mention....squirmy material may be toeing the line with OSP per regs.
 
OK, got a reasonable response from our local ODFW office:

"Great question! Squirmy’s are a bit unconventional as they do fall into a bit of a grey area in terms of artificial soft plastic vs fly.

If they are being fished with a fly rod and reel and have a thread, wire, and/or bead element we would consider them a fly. Same thing for a pats rubber legs and other flies with rubber or soft plastic element. A soft plastic body on a hook shank would not be considered a fly."
 
Wade Rivers said:
OK, got a reasonable response from our local ODFW office:

"Great question! Squirmy’s are a bit unconventional as they do fall into a bit of a grey area in terms of artificial soft plastic vs fly.

If they are being fished with a fly rod and reel and have a thread, wire, and/or bead element we would consider them a fly. Same thing for a pats rubber legs and other flies with rubber or soft plastic element. A soft plastic body on a hook shank would not be considered a fly."
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strong work on getting to the bottom of this! Fish away with squirmies!

Did you get a name? I want to be able to reference this in case I get a ticket from OSP
 
Pigs said:
strong work on getting to the bottom of this! Fish away with squirmies!

Did you get a name? I want to be able to reference this in case I get a ticket from OSP
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Indeed, good work, @Wade Rivers .

Their take seems pretty reasonable I suppose. Although the fact that it's kosher to fish a worm fly with the body material attached to the hook with thread, but not kosher to fish it when it's just threaded and glued onto the hook, well, the logic behind that is a little squirmy.
 
Wade Rivers said:
OK, got a reasonable response from our local ODFW office:

"Great question! Squirmy’s are a bit unconventional as they do fall into a bit of a grey area in terms of artificial soft plastic vs fly.

If they are being fished with a fly rod and reel and have a thread, wire, and/or bead element we would consider them a fly. Same thing for a pats rubber legs and other flies with rubber or soft plastic element. A soft plastic body on a hook shank would not be considered a fly."
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yep, much ado about little..except for dry fly fishers of course

1777335743888.png
 
Thanks @Wade Rivers for doing that. I was going to ask the next OSP Trooper I ran into.

Been leery lately, of throwing Squirmies, on the Fall River, since seeing this in the Regulations last December. Never even gave it a second thought until last Fall, when a Friend and I were looking up the ODFW definition of bait.

BOB
 
Wade Rivers said:
From Oregon Regs:

  • Bait: Any item used to attract fish that is not an artificial fly, lure or attractor. Molded soft plastic or rubber imitations of worms, eggs, insects, bait fish, crayfish, etc. are considered baits. Scent is not considered bait.
  • Artificial fly: A fly is a hook, dressed with conventional natural or synthetic fly tying materials. Tied in conjunction with other materials, wire (lead or other) used to weight the fly and dumbbell eyes or beads (metal, glass or plastic) may be part of the fly. A fly does not include sinkers, molded weights, spinners, spoons or similar attractors.
  • Lure: An artificial device, complete with hooks, intended to attract and entice fish; excludes artificial flies or attractors. Corkies, spin-n-glos, birdy drifters, leadhead jigs, hard plastic beads, etc. are considered lures. Molded soft plastic or rubber imitations of worms, eggs, insects, bait fish, crayfish, etc. are considered baits.
Just spit ballin' here but IMHO rubber legs are OK. Squirmies? Hmmm? Probably OK too because you don't buy them already molded looking like a worm imitation. You buy a long piece of stretchy stuff and fashion them into a "fly". Kind of a weak arguement.

BTW, I've had my license checked 4 times just this year in Central Oregon: Diamond, Metolius, Chickahominy and Billy C
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The interpretations are a little to grey imo...
 
San Juan Worm?
How about a Mighty Columbia Worm instead?
20260109_164137.jpg
Or a similar bass-sized, weedless version tied with Squishenille (furled, then slide tail over the hookpoint by going between the braids to make it weedless, like a TX-rigged plastic)
20250801_082851(1).jpg
 
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