Chironomid Techniques

[woolybugger]

Hello there,
Was talking to a friend of mine on chironomids. We get into a long discussion on what the most effective patterns we use here in Kamloops. Why we use them, what we thought was best about them. Also got into materials, pretty in depth to.

Id like to share with you guys some of the things that I have learned over the years of Chironomid tying techniques, as well as fishing them. I post this in the fly tying section because of some material I would like to go in depth on.

Now I love the chironomid because its one of the first flies we learn to tie, and yet, not alot of us fish these right away due to frustration, and patience. We start out with some basic patterns, using white beads as the head. We use thread for the body, wire for the rib, and we leave it at that. We start with black and red snowcones, move onto olive with silver, marron with silver, the odd chromie. Then, when your like me and fish chironomids with a 3 wt and become a fanatic, you start to move into traditional chronnies with red biot gills, wing cases, antron tails, and so forth. I have used many different materials for my little chronnies such as larvae lace, flashabou, pheasent, peacock herl thorax. But I would like to share with you some new ideas, that maybe alot of us have over looked and/or not tried.

Just a couple tricks I have found that really do work great for me. Dont get me wrong, I still tie the most basic patterns and snowcones out there, because they work well when they are on just like the rest of them.

So lets start with materials for chironomids. I tie my bodies using larvae lace, flashabou, and thread. Always. I dont prefer one over the other I mix it up constantly. I usually rib with wire, sometimes krystal flash, flashabou, even tinsel. Now, for the thorax or gills as some call them, I use to use peacock herl witch is the traditional way. But lately, I have been using rabbit ice dub in peacock black. Using dubbing gives it alot more live in the water, and looks more natural and buggier then using the peacock hurl. There are people out there doing the same thing. But the beginners, might not have tried it yet. So theres a tip for you. Now onto the heads. Typically, we all buy a pack of a hundred white glass beads and go crazy with them. Beginners tend to get stuck on that idea. I like to expirement with meany different bead heads like gunmetal, silver, brass, gold, and all sorts of coloured beads. But my favourite, is the clear glass beads in all colours. They give it a little more life up top and makes it look realistic like the gas's in the chironomid. I usually put white antron gills ahead of the bead, but this is not always the case. I will leave it off and once again expirement. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt. Now the next step I do on 90 percent of my chronnies. And thats coat the fly with either head cement or clear laquer. This will give the chronnie a little more shine and once again, make it look like its trapping gas's in the chronnie body, and also works great on blood worms. If you do have the thorax, start coating behind leaving the thorax bushy and buggy. If you dont have the thorax, I like to use the head cement to almost blend the bead into the fly.

My favourite chronnie is the olive black head. I use olive thread for the body, black wire rib, black clear glass bead, and antron gills. Any size. Id post pictures but Im waiting for my cam to be fixed.

Fishing these chronnies is by far the best time I have in fly fishing. Yes I have fished for bigger fish like salmon and steel head. But to me, nothing is better then catching fat bows in still water on chronnies. Your hands begin to develope a sensitivity to little strikes and takes, and you set that hook and BAM! Fish on!

Ill quickly share with you my favourite chronnie fishing techniques.

First, I like fishing them under an indicator with about 9 feet of leader, and 3-4 feet of tippet. I will use flouracarbon mostly on all my set ups. I like using the indicator because maybe I pumped a fish, and he was eating what im using. So I will fish different depths and switch it up. I usually let it sit, every minute or so giving it a slow twitch. Works great for me.
I will fish it without an indicator on a floating line, but I like indicators.

Second, if the fish are down deep. I will fish these on a intermediate sinking line. I will fish bloodworks on this set up to. I have fished up to 20-25 feet if leader in deep depths. Casting is sure fun I will use slow retrieves, giving a wuick twitch every once and a while.

These techniques work best for me, and give you an idea on fishing these patterns. Alot of new fly fisherman get lost in chronnie fishing and impatient. But once you get the presentation down, this is sure to be one of your favourite pass times!

Thanks for reading this (if you read the whole thing, good for you! ;p) Just my opinions, tehcniques, and tying styles. I will post pics in the gallery soon when I get into my new place and have my camera ready.

Tight lines everyone!

P.s some of my spelling is not the greatest

[johnk]

There is definitely no mistaking your passion for chironomids. I'm right there with ya! Conservatively speaking I've tied somewhere around 50,000 chironomids. Ask Ron at KamFly, he used to sell my flies there when I was managing Tunkwa from 1999-2008. Tunkwa was a great lake to hone my craft and I've gone through the gauntlet of chironomid tying styles. Peacock herl to Ice Dub to Diamond Dub to holographic dubbing for thoraxes and now to hotspots thanks to fellow member, Andy Larkin, who touts hotspots for other type flies but they do work with chironomids as well.

All my patterns now are tapered from nothing at the tail to a thread collar equal to the diameter of the bead. A lot of times I use two ribs and that is derived from taking photos of naturals and when their bodies are positioned in a curved posture you can almost always see two colours in the segmentation.

I use Sally Hansens Hard as Nails to coat every chironomid I tie and some receive a coating of UV resin if I am going for a particular desired effect. You can also use Hard as Hull or LocTite glue.

[Coastrider]

great write up, and suprised to see John as the first responded I am definatly one of thoses impatient fisherman that gets bored and cold easily. Nailed it also as I tied a pile of chironomids at first but only used them a couple times with no luck. Thanks for the great informative post, a great addition to the board aswell

[woolybugger]

Thanks Coastrider. Im happy that you found the write up good. I know impatience from experiance when I first started

And John. I think you came into Kamloops Fly Shop about four years ago. And My friend Jake who was the young guy working at the time with Ron, and I met you. Brian Chan was there to. Maybe you where going fishing with him? Maybe I got the wrong guy. And hotspots look like a new technique that im going to be using for the next batch of chronomids. If your ever back in Kamloops, we should go fishing! And that invite extends to anybody on this forum!

Thanks for the kind words!

[woolybugger]

Also I also am using nail hardner to coat the hooks. Do you think the fish smell it and dont take more often then take? Thats what im afraid of.

[johnk]

Thanks Coastrider. Im happy that you found the write up good. I know impatience from experiance when I first started

And John. I think you came into Kamloops Fly Shop about four years ago. And My friend Jake who was the young guy working at the time with Ron, and I met you. Brian Chan was there to. Maybe you where going fishing with him? Maybe I got the wrong guy. And hotspots look like a new technique that im going to be using for the next batch of chronomids. If your ever back in Kamloops, we should go fishing! And that invite extends to anybody on this forum!

Thanks for the kind words!

First off, I am 100% certain there is no issue with the fish smelling the coating.

I'm fairly sure you have the right guy. I remember Jake alright. Was he from Powell River?

Definitely experiment with hotspots on chironomids and leeches as well. The idea was actually Chan's suggestion after he filmed an episode of SFOTF at Summit Lake in the Kootenays with Don Freschi who was putting fabric paint on the thoraxes. I now have several patterns that are designated "Hot Under the Collar".

I'm doing a tying demo at Nicola Valley Outdoors in Merritt on Saturday, May 5th (3rd annual) and on the 6th will more than likely be fishing Tunkwa. Stay in touch and I'll show you some of my favourite early spring spots on the lake, spots that don't get fished after mid June due to weed growth but hold lots of quality bows during May.

[woolybugger]

I will be attending John. Dont you worry. No Jake is from Kamloops. We tie and fish together constantly.

For the Hot spots do you still use fabric paint? Or do you tie in some orange thread or dubbing material.

[johnk]

I will be attending John. Dont you worry. No Jake is from Kamloops. We tie and fish together constantly.

For the Hot spots do you still use fabric paint? Or do you tie in some orange thread or dubbing material.

No, I never used fabric paint, although, I do use white fabric point to suggest gills when the bead is too small to fit over antron gills. I use three different fluorescent threads; charteuse, orange and pink, which amazingly change colour when subjected to UV rays. The pattern in the photo, you can just barely see the buildup of the white paint.

[buckshot44]

Excellent thread, I've been looking to introduce something new to the chronies i tie..

Thanks!!

[IslandNewb]

I agree, awesome thread.

John have you experimented with hotspots within the body? I have a ton with the red butt tag but I havent experimented with hotspots under the collar or through the body..