Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => Fly Fishing Cafe => Topic started by: Eightball on March 23, 2007, 10:51:28 PM
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How do you properly fish chironomids? What are your favorite ways?
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I think there are courses for that. :D
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I prefer to fish my type 4 sinking line with a chronie hangin' just above the bottom...then I slowly kik my toon along the drop off and cast a leetch or something similar with my #2 rod...often is the unattended chronie rod wins the day...;))
mojo
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This might also be helpful:
http://www.fishingwithrod.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=3609.0 (http://www.fishingwithrod.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=3609.0)
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Tom Lam puts on a Chironomid Course every year at Riverside Fly & Tackle before all the lakes open up. Unfortunatly that course is today. However I do believe he is running a course through M&Y Fly shop later in the month or early april. Call to find out.
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I'm going to the course at M & Y's in April, as I need all the help I can get...
What little i've been taught is...pm me and I'll give you the drill...Squalacum sunday???
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IT'S ALL ABOUT BEAD HEAD CHRONIES, STRIKE INDICATORS, AND ICE COLD BUDWEISERS ;D
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IT'S ALL ABOUT BEAD HEAD CHRONIES, STRIKE INDICATORS, AND ICE COLD BUDWEISERS ;D
don't forget smoking some nice fat ones...cigars that is...4 me.. ;)
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^ AH YES, CIGARS 4 ME...............NOT SO MUCH ! ;)
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Thanks guys for the info. It is very helpful for the hints. I'll give them a try soon. Looks like the rain may let up Mon and Tues.
Do you coat your bloodworms with fingernail polish or leave them as tied with superfloss?
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Chronie fishing is definitely my preferred fishing method. I start lake fishing at ice-off and fish the lakes usually up to Thanksgiving and I always have one chironomid rod out. In the spring and summer it's generally two. Last summer I put in over 60 days on the lake and chronies accounted for close to 90% of my hookups on the lakes I frequent most. There are a few critical things to remember to improve your success rate. First cruise the shoals with your sounder to look for shoals or flat spots. I've found that chronies don't hatch in the same numbers on steeper slopes or rugged bottom structure. Second, as mentioned above, use two anchors and keep them snug enough so your boat doesn't wonder. I like to fish floating lines with leader about 3-5 feet longer than the deepest area I expect to fish. When I fish deeper lakes like Sheridan and Courtney I usually fish with 28-30 foot leaders.
Some guys like to use full sink lines in these situations where you cast out the same length of line as the depth you're fishing and slowly inch it upward. What I don't like about this method is that you're not covering water and if you do retrieve you're taking the fly out of the strike zone which in most cases is a fairly narrow window. Also, if you use this method in water of 12 feet or less there will be fewer fish cruising under your boat because they're likely to be spooked.
I always use indicators on my floating lines. I use the large ones in orange because of the visibility factor. Another reason I use the larger ones is that I find the fish tend to hook up easier because of the resistance created. Fish often set the hook themselves, especially on the rod you're not holding if you use two rods. I like the indicators that pop off themselves when you're playing the fish as opposed to the toothpick type. Sometimes you have to pull them to hand because the loop of line you've pushed into them is too snug to pop them. Be careful when you're fishing with long leaders when you have to do this because the fish might get into one of the anchor ropes. I've lost some big fish this way.
In terms of leaders use fluorcarbon tippet material. It sinks faster and is more difficult to see. I like Froghair and don't usually have to go less than 6X (6.6 lbs). Some people like to tie their tippet to a swivel for the added weight or they use a tiny spit shot to get the fly down quicker. I tie up all my flies with tungsten bead heads so they sink quickly. Besides, when you use two rods I'll always retrieve the other rod first. That will give the other fly tons of time to get down into the zone. Use a mono leader or tie up sections of graduated line out of mono. It's alot cheaper and more supple than fluorcarbon. Leaders that are tied entirely out of fluorcarbon are stiff and won't hang straight down from the indicator making it tougher to judge exactly how deep your fly is.
The only knot I use with chronies is a duncan loop. This knot will insure your fly is always hanging straight down because chronies never swim horizontally. Set your fly about 6 inches from the bottom to start. The best and fastest way to do this is to clamp a pair of forceps to the bottom of the fly and lower it to the bottom. When it touches set your indicator. If there are a million chronies hatching I'll often use one hook size larger or smaller than the naturals so mine doesn't get lost in the mix. Throat pump a fish every hour or so because different chronies will be hatching as the day progresses. Afterall, there are over 2500 different species of chironomids so it's not very often you can use the same one all day. Don't throat check fish under 12-13 inches. It's too hard on the little buggers.
I always retrieve when fishing using a a very slow mend. When you think you're retrieving slow enough slow it up even more. Some days I get more hookups on the rod I'm retrieving and on others its the rod that's drifting freely. Never troll a chironomid but if you're in a float tube you can kick ever so slowly in the area. Sometimes when the lake is like glass without so much as a whisper of wind I'll pull anchors and take an oar stroke every couple of minutes just to keep my lines straight out.
The best time to fish chronies is between 9:00 and 4:00, civilized fishing hours, but during August I've done well much earlier and later than those times. Fish sometimes key on the emergers so have some chronies tied up with hackles.
There's other tips I could tell you but this is already turning into a book. This should definitely get you started. Good luck with it. When you've got the right pattern it can be a fish a cast. There will be times when you won't even get to retrieve a fly the fish hit it so fast. Sometimes I've seriously thought I should put one rod away because it's so crazy, but I don't. Chaos can be fun!
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very informative post making me think of getting into fly fishing now :)
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8-ball... regarding your question about coating bloodworms.....I coat just about every chironomid pattern I tie but I use loc-tight. I believe it's a super glue product and can be purchased at Walmart, among other places. Get the one that has the nail polish like applicator.
It's great stuff. It bullet proofs the fly and gives it a sheen... helps the fish see it. And it's cheap....$4-5 and it lasts forever. I rarely have to discard a fly because this really makes them hold up well. The only part of the fly I don't use it on is the gills (usually white antron) and on peacock hurl when I use it. If you use red maribou for the tail of your blood worm I wouldn't put it on that either. Hopefully, that answers your question.
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Loc-tigt eh? Never heard of that one before but I'll bet it works well.
What color do you use and does its coloring have any effect on the final product?
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Loctite is clear and doesn't change the colour of your fly at all if you're using synthetic materials. if you tie your chronies with thread bodies it may darken the thread slightly but if it does it's not that noticeable. Like I said it works great...dries fast too.... but remember because it's a superglue product make sure you let it dry before handling the flies otherwise it might cloud up?? or worse yet, become part of your anatomy (just kidding). Don't know for sure though because I let theflies dry before handling them.
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while I don't tie flies myself...a lot of my fishin' budz use Sally Hansen Hard as Nails fingernail polish in the "nude" shade(clear) tp coat their chronie bodies.....;)))
mojo
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Mastercaster, you should write a book. The information is very helpful. I will try your hints next time I'm out. Watched a guy today and he had no hook ups. He was retrieving them way to fast.
thanks again!!! ;D