After many seasons of fly fishing stillwaters in Alberta and British Columbia, I realized that you cannot carry every pattern required to imitate the prolific chironomid (buzzer/midge) hatches that you will encounter. So I have chosen to limit my patterns according to how they are fished and covering the major color and size combinations to get close enough. Catch a fish, then based on the throat samples, a more representative pattern can tied up at the portable fly tying bench.
My neighbour has a small fishless pond with prolific chironomid hatches. I've spent some time watching the pupa as they prepare to ascend. The mature pupa will hang vertically in the water about 6" off bottom without motion. Every minute or so, they will wiggle and then rest. This is the type of fly presentation I try to achieve.
On a side note, chironomids patterns are very successful in catching large trout. My theory is that the trout are having to eat so many of these small insects that they become somewhat careless in their inspection and refusal of the artificials. Choronomid hatches occur deep in the lake and the fish feel safer, feeding preferentially near the bottom. Once you are sucessful at still fishing a chironomid pattern, the boredom factor goes away, particularily when the fish are hitting every two minutes.
So you need to have three or four different patterns for chironomid fishing, in several sizes and colors. The first pattern is for fishing deep during an active hatch. The fish will be taking the pupa off the bottom but >10 feet deep. The pupa will be gassing up for the ascent to the surface and are shiny but there is still some coloration since the bubble is not complete. Here I use a anti static body colored with Sharpie (felt pen) markers. After coloring the anti static bag wrapping, the body is protected with clear nail polish or head cement before the rib is wound on. Otherwise the color will wear off after an hour or from fish rubbing it.
| Hook | Daiichi 1260 | 2XL curved nymph, size 14 to 8 |
| Daiichi 1120 size 12 and smaller | Smaller flies are tied on heavy scud hooks | |
| Thread | 8/0 color to match | |
| Body | Anti Static Bag | Cut into strips and wrapped |
| Rib | Fine Wire - color to contrast | Counter wrap rib for durability |
| Bead | Black/gold/silver/copper/white | Usually black is good |
| Thorax | Dyed peacock herl | Natural, red, green or black |
| Wing Case | Pheasant tail fibers or raffia | optional |
| Gill | White poly yarn | Stillwater midge yarn is already sized |
I tie this pattern in black, brown, olive, light green, maroon and silver (no coloration). Sometimes I double rib with contrasting wire colors for added attraction.
The second pattern is for days when there is no hatch ongoing and the pupa are staging just off the bottom waiting for the right conditions. They are not gassing up so there is minimal shine to their bodies. Nothing beats pheasant tail fibers for a natural looking pupa. Look at the pheasant tail fibers after wrapping and they are a fine fuzzy texture like the body is velveteen. I tie this pattern in natural brown, olive, and black. You can use the Sharpies to adjust the tint of the body. Counter wind the rib for durability.
The third pupa pattern is for fish near the surface that are rolling but not taking the adults or emergers. You use a floating line, greased leader and a light pattern that sinks slowly and stays an inch under the surface when slowly retrieved. Apparently the pupa will travel horizontally along the water interface attempting to break through and emerge into their adult form. The fish will swim a foot down eating these insects but not taking the adults. The fly below has a Monocord body with clear nail polish for sheen.
This is a smpler version of the Brian Chan pupa, with pheasant tail as the body and a butt tuft.
For the deep bomber patterns, a variation required a white bead when the water is thick with algae which will collect in the gill tuft and discolor the poly/antron gills. For bomber pattern (over size 10) you can paint eyes onto the white bead for added realism. There are large chironomid pupa which are predatory and have good eyesight. Bomber patterns are sometimes tied with more detail, mainly because you can get the parts onto a size 8 hook without the fly looking sloppy. This first fly has the tail tuft and a wing case made of Raffia. Bombers can work well as attractor patterns even when there is no hatch on. The fish are so used to seeing chironomids through the season that they will not pass up an easy meal.
The eyes on the white bead are very prominent.
To tie bunches of chironomids in batches, it helps to organize the materials for the patterns. I also keep a list of patterns to be tied up over the winter so that I tie up the right number of each pattern for the season. The hooks and beads are arranged on a Plano box for easy reference when grabbing #12 hook and 7/64" black bead for example. The round clear lid cases are from Princess Auto (watchmaker cases also available at Lee Valley for 3X the price), they fit in an aluminum box 20 at a time.
Search the web for AK Best's fly tying tips, his production techniques are useful to improve your efficiency. We may not all be speed tyers, but getting the most flies tied in a session is still important.
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