Chironomid Tactics

I am not the most patient person in the world when it come to Chironomid fishing. I have had great success over the many years of flyfishing with the tactics I learned from Brian Chan and I can’t thank him enough for all the books, and videos he has put out over those years. I just found another great article from him and thought I would share it with all my readers. The full article can be found at http://www.flyfishersrepublic.com/tactics/fishing/chironomid-tactics/

Here is a small exert from the article to peak your interest :

The western provinces and states of Canada and the United States are blessed with an incredible abundance of productive stillwaters. These nutrient rich lakes support extremely prolific and diverse populations of chironomids (midges, buzzers). Brian Chan looks at chironomids and tactics for targetting the trout that feed on them.

To many North American fly fishers, chironomids are those very tiny patterns imitated on hook sizes #18 to #24 or smaller that are also found in lakes but are more common in rivers and especially productive tailwaters. However, the larval and pupal stages of many chironomid species found in the stillwaters of the western states and provinces are commonly represented on #16 to #10 shrimp/pupa hooks such as the Mustad Signature C49S or Tiemco 2457. The largest pupal patterns which are known locally as “bombers” are dressed on #12-3XL to #8-3XL hooks. Chironomid pupa are found in a wide variety of colours with the most common ones being black, maroon, green and brown and various shades of each colour. One of the keys to being successful is understanding and recognizing that there are various sizes and colours of the pupa and that the trout can be quite selective about both. The use of throat pumps (stomach pumps) can be very beneficial in determining what colour and size of larvae or pupae a particular trout may have just inhaled. The proper use of a throat pump samples the esophagus or throat of the fish, where the food items are still alive. The fish can then be released alive. However, improper use of the tool can damage or even kill a fish, so take care.

Typical throat pump sample from stillwater trout. Sample shows a mix of various sized chironomid pupae, baetis and damsel nymphs.

There are numerous factors that produce the exceptional chironomid fishing found in these waters. Most significant is the basic water quality. These lakes are rich in key elements like calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and nitrogen, the building blocks for aquatic plant growth, phytoplankton, zooplankton and the many aquatic insects and other macro invertebrates that grow healthy fish. This water chemistry, in combination with long open water growing seasons, also provides ideal habitat for chironomids. There are so many species of chironomids that emergences begin occurring from almost the day the ice comes off a lake to well into the late summer or early fall period. Actual emergences are very heavy with literally thousands upon thousands of pupa ascending to the surface of the lake to emerge. Trout literally “breathe” in pupa because of the shear densities in the water column. Many of the chironomid species are relatively large so they can make up a significant proportion of the annual diet of a trout. And finally, trout eat so many of these insects during prime emergence periods that they will take these imitations even when there is no actual emergence or only very minor ones occurring such as during the very late fall period.

Again the full article can be found at http://www.flyfishersrepublic.com/tactics/fishing/chironomid-tactics/