Chironomid dries
While fishing a local lake this afternoon I hit a huge chironomid emergence, and the fish were feeding freely on adults. I tried a griffith's gnat, a Lady McConnel, a Tom Thumb, and a mosquito dry (which was the closest to the natural that I tried), and only got one swirl. Has anyone found any patterns that grab fishes attention in a situation like this? I know they weren't spooking, because they were taking naturals within inches of my dry consistently. Frustrating.

A wee little tom thumb without a body usually works well. Now you said they were adults, but I'm wondering if the fish were taking the chrony's on the surface or in the film, or sub-surface. Just before they get rid of their case. I find bows' like emergers more than true dries, prefer to take sub-surface. Just my personal experience.

Jesse could very well be correct. The way to check is if the fish were breaking the water's surface with their attack.

I had luck the other day with #18 black gnats and #18 adams for a chironomid rise.

try a racoon its an emerging chironomid pattern

how do you get a racoon to stay on the end of your line? i bet they put up a good fight. get your rabies vaccination first.

Haha omg that was a good one............hmmm NOT!!

I've had good success with a chironomid emerger pattern which looks basically like a nymph, but with a fibre tail (pheasant tail or even cdc fibres) and a wrap of grizzly hackle at the neck so the head is in the surface film, but the body is just slightly submerged. Tied on size 14 to 18 hooks in various colours of bodies, these can also act as imitations of other kinds of small bugs like small baetis mayflies. I don't use the ones with the small grizzly hackle tip wings tied over the back like a wet fly- just bare like a standard chironomid nymph but with the tail and the one wrap of hackle. You have to go to 5x or 6x tippet to make sure the small fly gets seen by the fish, and he doesn't see the shadow of the tippet in the surface film.

Jesse,
They were taking adults mostly, the rises were of the splashy, noisy variety. There was the odd fish taking emergers, but the vast majority were taking adults. It wasn't all for naught though, when I put on a small wooly bugger I hooked up almost immediately, but it was still frustrating to see so many fish rising and not taking advantage of it. I'll try back this weekend with some of your guys' patterns if the weather holds.

Odd they weren't taking your presentation. When in the water the fish will sometimes key in on a certain color chrony when different colour's are hatching, but for adults I've never found fish to be terribly picky as long as the size is right on. You guys are lucky to have chrony hatches already. What's the water temp?

Well, incredulous that I could not cause these fish to take a dry, I headed up to Mike Lake this afternoon. It was seething with rises but I tried every dry I had and all for naught. #18 adams, mosquito, black gnat, griffiths gnat, attractors yadayada. I did not see a single take of a dry for any of the innumerable fly-fishermen there. Then I tried every chironi I had - nothing. Then I put on a leech and got a hit but the scum-bag got off. I am stumped - completely stumped. I know some of you are pontificating about how you would have tempted a rise - yeah, whatever. I'll believe it when I see it.

Dave,

I had the same thing happen one day last year. I didn't get any results until I tried a rolled muddler and stripped it quickly through the rises.

Fish can feed on critters we can't see with the naked eye. I know kokanee feed on fresh water plankton. I don't see why trout
couldn't feed on some kind of transparent organisum. No self respecting fly fisherman will admit defeat though.

trout also feed on zoo plankton around the summer time too

Casey have you got a good easy to tie pattern?

For zoo plankton??? i dont know if there is one i can ask a friend though and i'll get back to you.

First you need a good microscope, and a mini-me vice. Then you get a hook that folds up (barbless ofcourse) (like those new broadheads that they have), and expands when a trout takes it. Then you get coloured white out, or head cement works well, and apply a tiny dab. This also requires 20X tippet (don't put too much pressure on the fish), and a toothpick coloured red as your bobber (strike indicator). When you first set the hook you might have to follow the fish for a bit (15-20min) before they realize they've been hooked, then you simply make sure the old johnson is making plenty of noise and follow the line until you're right over the fish, then pop it until neutral and rev it up. The fish will run. Repeat until the fish tires, or is killed by the fumes. This has saved many a fishing trip, when the fish just wouldn't bite! yeah right. I'm quite curious what water temp. you guys have up there. Everything here's at a constant 32F, and knowing that there is warm water somewhere will lift my spirits a bit. You guys shouldn't be a long way from a boatmen hatch!

Nothing beats spending an afternoon casting #40 zooplankton flies on a -6wt rod. I didn't have a thermometer with me, so I'm not sure of the temp. Still chilly, the last ice was still on the edges last week.

I think there is a pattern though its like a clear chironomid but i gotta email my friend for the pattern i dunno if there is a real point in fishing it but ya never know!!!

Casey I was just joke'en about the pattern. I very rarly use flies under size 12, but by almeans see what you can find. Like you say,you never know. A clear chrony mite work. Nation & Brown didn't think a leech pattern would be worth tying.

I'd bet the main problem was the size of the patterns you used - it's usually the most important factors in 'match the hatch' situations.
One pattern I've used in such situations has a
fine antron tail as a shuck, a dubbed body, a sparse wood duck flank wing and a wrap of dry fly hackle. I've also had good luck with small standard chironomid patterns like a TDC

Curious if any of you guys ever used bead bodied chrony's. I tried them out last year and they seemed to work quite well. They drop like a rock, and the fish seem to like them.

jesse do you mean like the killer cadis pattern??

If you check with your local aquarium shop they should be able to show you "glass worms" King Ed Pet Shop in Burnaby used to carry them all the time for fish food (surprise surprise). 1 cm long clear chironomids like critters, probably closer to blood worms than chironomids (larvea not pupea). I have run into them out on the lakes and had limited success with a fly tied with clear larva lace. Been meaning to try tying over silver tinsel or scraped lead. As to the zooplankton I have real trouble with the whip finish on the 20/0 thread any suggestions??

I e-maild Phil Rowley about the zoo plankton pattern and he says:
"As for zooplankton I don't have a fly specifically but I have had success using leeches and Pheasant Tail nymphs using either orange or green seal's fur to match whatever zooplankton color they are on. I know the English use small marabou streamers that match the predominant zooplankton color with good success." there ya go a zoo plankton fly pattern who knew??
Casey

A killer caddis is a fly made up of a scud hook a ball of grey dubbing brfor the beads 4 killer caddis beads placed on the hook and lime green dubbig behind the beads its a real flashy fly it looks good but i have never fished it I tryed to scan it but it only came out as an outline i can put it on if you want you'll get the general idea from the pic!
Casey

Oh ya the killer caddis beads are glass beads the ones i used for that pattern are kinda green with a peakock herl colourd sheen

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