Washington Fly Fishing Forum banner

Chironimide Fishing: Breaking it Down for "Dummies"

8K views 71 replies 25 participants last post by  Jay Burman 
#1 ·
(Assuming one is using a floating line with..... and wanting to chironimide fish....)

When I was out on Martha yesterday, I got the rod ready, slip indicator on, and flies tied. Went out on the water, fastened the hemostats to the bottom fly and lowered it down to get the depth. Now.... the depth took all of my leader and some of my fly line. When this happens, what do you do? Where do you set up the indicator? Not on the fly line itself??? What would you do if this happened? Add more tippet? Move to a shallower part of the lake?
 
#67 ·
When the Winter Lake swap pics are up today, take a look at my bloodworm that also has on several occassions done well on Lone (unfortunately for me others now know about and therefore so do many many Lone lake trout, yet I can't quite stop sharing :) ). Feel free to steal it.

Ira
 
#68 ·
Have you guys had any success using a slow sinking line with a chironomid in a horizontal retrieve? I have done well under an indicator and using a sinking line with a vertical or static presentation But i have rarely had success with a horizontal retrieve and buzzers.
 
#69 ·
I refer to that as fishing "Naked Chironomid" (no indicator) a term used by a long time fly fisher friend. This technique is not new, back when chironomid fishing was beginning it was popular to fish it on a slow sink line and retrieve it back as slow as possible. The late Ed Nevins of the Evergreen Fly Fishers had this down to a science. This works particularly well when they are holding in 20'+ depth water.

The method which I use often (no indicator) is with a floating line especially when I am fishing skinny water. Pending the depth I am fishing I use a 9' - 15' leader with a slightly weighted or un-weighted chironomid, this works particularly well in water up to 15' in depth. Give it a few seconds to sink and then give it a very slow overhand wrist retrieve stopping intermittently. The takes are detected by a slight line movement or most of the times are explosive enough they will hook set themselves. Another advantage of this technique is you always have a tight line and hook set average increases.

Note: To get an idea how fast your chironomid is sinking put it over the side of the boat and observe its sink rate. Sometimes you have will need to adjust by going to lighter or heavier fly. It also helps to grease you line well especially at the tip if it's sinking with the leader.
 
#70 ·
There is one lake where fish tend to feed 4" or so below the surface on rising chironomids. I work a bit of floatant into the antron head and allow the fly to sink but at a much slower rate than without the floatant. I will cast it out and the retrieve horizontally by turning over my hand for retrieve. If you can get the chironomid in the right zone it can be a very good tactic at this place.
 
#71 ·
GREAT INFO GUY'S .

I would like to add some tricks also for location and depth without a fish finder , and keeping your fly in the zone .

We use bass bouy markers for marking our areas , we will use the oars and row around the drop off or edge of the weed bed or what ever structure your going to fish and drop these small floating bouys to mark these edges . you can also mark the lines for depth with magic markers so after it rolls out you can see how deep the water is . we use two and mark a line or point exactly where we want the fly , just throw them over and fish between them being within one foot of the weed edge or drop of under water channels where we fish makes it a very good tool for lakes . when i first used these i just made some with my salmon slip bobbers and cut the line at 25 ft. and would just drop them , but the store bought roll out versions that bass fisherman use just cant be beat . you can throw them a long way and they will just roll out after hitting surface to mark your HOT spots ! after they hit the bottom they stop rolling out line because they have sand in the dumb bell part so they work them selfs and don't need to be tied off or anything to any depth !
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top