Cory's Chironomid

Cory talks about fishing the chironomid larva pattern, and he has successfully fished this pattern on White Lake in the Thompson-Nicola Region (R3).

Chironomid larva are found on or near the bottom of the lake. Therefore you should fish your chironomid larva pattern along the bottom. This is best accomplished with an intermediate sinking line, slow sinking line, or a floating line and long leader. Cast your fly out and allow it to sink to the bottom, then begin a slow hand twist retrieve. Often during periods of high winds, larva will be swept off the bottom and become vulnerable to trout. Trout will key in on these large schools of defenseless larva. You can imitate a chironomid larva being swept along by the current by casting out perpendicular to the wind and allowing your fly to dead drift down wind. No retrieve is required when using this method.

There are many different ways to fish chironomid pupa effectively. The most popular technique involves a floating line and a leader approximately the same length as the depth of water that you are fishing in. Cast your fly down wind from your anchored boat or float-tube and let your pupa pattern sink to the bottom. For this technique you may want to use a weighted pupa pattern so that you don't have to wait as long for the fly to reach the bottom. Once your fly is on the bottom begin an extremely slow hand twist retrieve. You may want to throw the very odd short quick strip in to draw attention to your fly. This slow hand twist retrieve will pull your fly up off the bottom and will imitate the chironomid pupa's slow ascent to the lake surface. Chironomid pupa fishing techniques requires a fast sinking line such as a Type 3 full sink. For this method cast your line out about as far as the depth of water that you are fishing, and let your line sink till it is completely vertical. Then use a slow hand twist retrieve to retrieve your fly. If you drag up weed, try not casting quite as far on your next cast. This method is best when fishing in water 20 feet or deeper. At times trout will key in on chironomid pupa caught in the surface film, or emerging chironomids. If this is the case, slide a very small piece of white foam down your line to the eye of your pupa pattern, or you can apply fly floatant to your leader.