It seems apropos that a fly of this style and profile is featured given the huge quantities of large sand eels that have been present this year in many locales.

This winter Jeff was telling me that he was trying to develop a fly, which would emulate the highly successful Jigs that he and his friends developed for use on the Back Beaches. A few weeks later he proudly displayed his creation, which he dubbed the 'Well Digger's Arse'. The WDA is a very fully dressed sand eel imitation with lots of flash and heavily weighted. Jeff tied the WDA on an Eagle Claw #413 jig hook utilizing a cone and lots of lead wire wrapped behind it for weight. It looked like a winner to me, so I set out to try to incorporate Jeff's design into some of my own flies.

I slimmed down the fly a bit and added a flashtail to Jeff's WDA. I also used a lot less weight to make the fly easier to cast.

One could certainly argue that this is not a truly innovative pattern. It could be viewed as a Clouser utilizing a different type of eye. Further complicating the situation is a new pattern by Innovative New Jersey fly tier Bob Popovics. Bob's Jiggy Fly. All three of these flies: the WDA, the Clouser Deep Minnow and the Jiggy Fly utilize similar design. There are after all only so many ways you can arrange bucktail, feathers and flash on a hook!

Many patterns that are extremely attractive in the hand, are miserable failures on the beach. The fish would provide the final grade for this new creation.

One June evening I arrived at LeCount's Hollow an hour or so before dusk with Fred Velario from Rhode Island. Fred is very meticulous about his preparation for fishing, whereas I'm impulsive and impatient. So while Fred was rigging up I rushed down the hill, through the soft sand to a cut located a short distance down the beach.

As I reached the water I saw a Laughing Gull dip to the surface and come up with a 6" sand eel. I snipped the Buffy off of my tippet and knotted on a 6 - 7" Well Digger's Arse.

On about the 3rd cast, as my WDA drifted through the cut, I was rewarded with a sharp tug on my line. I set the hook and it was apparent that I was fast to something more than a run-of-the-mill schoolie. I pressured the fish pretty hard. Several minutes later I was able to slide her up on the beach.   A quick measurement verified the fish's length as 35".  The fish was revived and allowed to swim off.

Happily this was not an isolated incident. The scenario repeated itself many times this season. A big fish in P-town straightened out the hook on the WDA. Another morning on the Back Beach the stripers were full from eating Buffy's all morning, but still had room for a WDA bounced on the sand of the finger bars on a fast sinking line.

Jeff and I proved that this fly could indeed be effective from a boat one day in the South Beach/Monomoy area. We released numerous 'keepers' that day.

This fly has been such a good producer for me that it has taken over the space in my fly box previously reserved for traditionally tied Clousers! Given the numbers and quality of the fish that the traditional Clousers have produced for me in the past, it was not an easy task for a fly to earn this honor.

The fly is tied on a hook not usually associated with fly tying. This hook is the Eagle Claw #413. The hook has a sixty-degree offset built into the hook shank. This offset pretty much guarantees that the fly will ride correctly in the water. I discovered the use of this hook on Dan Blanton's BB. I think its use was started by a Texas angler name George Glazner. Its use has caught on quite quickly. Even Bob Clouser is using it to tie his famous flies.

One advantage that this fly has over traditional Clousers is its slim profile. It makes 'Clousering' a rod, caused by a casting mistake, much less likely to occur. The slim profile is much less likely to ding a rod than the protruding eyes on a Clouser.

So how do you fish this fly once you have tied up a handful of them? The design seems to allow just about any presentation you wish. I generally fish the WDA using the same techniques that I would employ fishing a Clouser.

I would encourage anyone tying this fly to be innovative in the choice of materials and details of the fly design. Who knows, maybe you'll improve upon the design!

Here is a last minute update on the use of this fly. I arrived at Chatham Inlet at 4:00 AM on Sunday. I fished a 9" Black Phantom as I walked down towards the point. I released a couple of 5 or 6 pound fish. As the sun rose and the tide dropped I worked my way out on the bar. I cut off the Phantom and replaced it with a 6" dark green over chartreuse WDA. Terns, Herring Gulls and Laughing Gulls were circling and diving to the water surface picking up large sand eels. The predators appeared to be absent. None of the 6 or so other anglers was doing anything.

Suddenly on my 10th or so 'last cast', there was a thud and I was hooked up. The fish showed its strength by making a 50-yard run against a tight drag and a lot of spool pressure. The fish was utilizing the strong current to its advantage. I finally stopped his run and started to turn him. He then started to bulldog deep in the flow using his lateral profile and the strong current to maintain his position. I then applied side pressure and kept switching from side to side to keep the fish off balance. After a couple of shorter runs I was able to slide the fish up on the sand. A quick measurement against the mark on the flyrod suggested the fish to be at least 35".  A quick measurement with the tape indicated 37".

Since the fish hit on my last cast and my wife had requested a striper for dinner, the fish was dragged off the beach.

A careful measurement at home showed the fish to be 39". Since this fish was as chunky as could be, I was interested in how much it weighed. A quick trip down the road to Blackbeard's Bait and Tackle Shop confirmed the fish's weight to be 20.25 pounds.

Another fine testament to the fish catching ability of the Well Digger's Arse!!