Courtesy of Max

AKA

FlashBackMax

 

Sparkly Chironomid Pupa

"Take a break, fish a lake," famous last words by the adfg. However, with the heavy rains and flooding of late, it might be more of a reality than ever if you want to wet a line with any hope of success. Besides, fishing for stillwater trout certainly isn't without its charms. There's nothing quite like watching a trout sip a fly off the surface of a mirror calm lake, or watch on jet out of the water after it's been
hooked.

I chose a category of fly that's almost always on the menu of stillwater trout, Chironomids. These squirrelly little midge-like insects emerge in almost any situation creating a constant buffet for fish.
There's a lot of articles on the net dedicated to them. If you have never taken advantage of them, now would be a good time to learn. Give them a try.

Here we go!

 

Materials List

Hook: any scud or shrimp hook #10-20(best to learn which size your lake has)

Bead: Basic black brass or tungsten bead

Thread: Black 8/0

Gills: any slender white synthetic fiber

Rib: 6/0 uni-thread

Underbody: Silver flashabou

Over-body: Mylar flashabou

Body coating: Head cement or softex

Thorax: peacock or peacock dubbing

LETS GET TYING!!

Step 1

Thread the bead onto the hook and insert the hook into the vice.

Step 2

Start the thread up near the eye pushing the bead back. Try not to bulk it up too much.

Step 3

Select a small clump of synthetic fiber and tie it in.

Step 4

Whip-finish the thread and slid the bead back up over the wraps you just made, but leave the fibers long.

Step 5

You could use a lot of things for the rib. However I like the uni-thread cause it is quite round and give some definition, not laying flat like most threads.
Tie in a section of ribbing material.

Step 6

Tie in the over-body first, then tie in the underbody.

Step 7

Wrap up the underbody, then wrap the overbody right over that. I think this gives the fly a little bit of a 3D sort of look to it.

Step 8

Splop a drop of cement or softex on the body. This does two things. One it protects the body from being picked apart. Two it provides the rib which we'll wrap next with something sticky to hold onto to. The body itself is quite slick.

Step 9

Wrap the rib in nice even turns to the head and tie it off.

Step 10

In my case, I used peacock dubbing. You can use whatever you like. Just don't make the collar too big.

BOTTOM

Step 11

Now be careful when you trim the gills to size. I know how big I want it, but I make sure I don't trim it off all at once. I trim 3 or 4 times till I get it the exact length I want. There's nothing worse than spending 5 minutes tying a fly, only to screw it up at the end!

 

FINISHED FLY