The Vladi worm a fly devised by Poland’s Vladi Trzebunia to imitate the common earth worm. In my early days grayling fishing I used to trot with gilt tails, small earth worms kept in moss and fed regularly with cream and they worked. Why I doubted that this fly would be of use for Scottish grayling I am not sure but I was fascinated by the fly and set about getting the right materials.
Daiichi 1870 swimming nymph hooks difficult to find in the UK so I sent off to the US although I did see taht a Uk company now stocked them. Bright pink condoms were next ebay came to the rescue, when a dozen arrived, bright pink the required colour. I felt that I had to explain to my partner why I needed all these condoms in my tackle box in case she came across them.
The material arrived and I set about tying a few “worms” and they looked great. They then sat in my fly box possible for the next 3 years. Eventually I got round to trying one it was on my annual day on the Tweed at Tweedswood and it worked, very quickly, on the second cast. I moved it around on the cast, gave one away and it still worked. I tried it after I saw an article in Trout and Salmon magazine where a version using polythene was being used instead of condom to effect.
