Fishing Chironomids Without An Indicator

[Brookie]

I witnessed someone fishing chironomids without an indicator last spring on a lake in the East Kootenays. They explained the technique as follows. Tie approximately 15 to 20 feet of fluorocarbon to a floating line, cast out to target area and then slowly hand retrieve. It worked very well. Not sure whether there is more to it. I tried to no avail. Any enlightenment would be appreciated.

[Nachako]

Do a count down to the bottom . Slow retrieve Wait for the tug & lift the tip it doesn't get much simpler than that .

[BrianR]

You can save some costs on floro.You only need 3-4' of floro.Depth is very important.So hypothetlly.btm of lake is 20' you should have a total leader length of approx.25'.You can go to phil Rowleys books or his you tube site.Scroll down he calls it naked fishing.Keeping your bug near the btm,using lead,wtd fly etc..tight lines

[DonAndersen]

Brookie,

 

Long leadering chironomids works sometimes -better than bobbers sometimes - worse - sometimes. It is just another technique on the stillwater arsenal.

 

I've been doing this type of fishing for about 10 years. It has it's place.

 

Here are some thoughts:

 

1] leader length is <>25% longer than water depth.

2] I use Berkely Vanish 8>12 lb. test as the main leader to which I attach Rio Fluoro of 3>5X. I mostly use 3X

3] I use a top quality long belly fly line. Am presently using Sci. Anglers Mastery Textured Series trout - see discussion on fly line type below.

4] do not use metal beads as the sink rate is too fast. If beads are used, I use either plastic or glass. The hooks are heavy wire.

5] as I fish for some decent sized fish, hook strength is important. Tiemco #2457 or Mustad C068NP-BR

6] retrieval rate is important. Slow is best - very slow is better. A pull or 2 of 2>3" followed by a pause and repeat. Vary the retrieval rate a little

7] casting nearly straight down wind is critical to keeping a tight line between the fly and you. Big bellys are ugly.

8] The technique tends to be useful in water depths of greater than 10'.

9] rod length is not critical. I use a bamboo rod of 8' and get casts exceeding 70'. Covering the water is critical. Keeping your fly in the water is critical. If you insist on constant casting take up yoga.

10] anchoring is important. I use one anchor and keep the pontoon boat aligned with fins. Two anchors would be better on bigger boats.

11] what is the deepest water you can fish? I've run 35' leaders in 29>33' of water. Catch fish - sure.

12] learn to cast a long leader. What I've found most effective is roll cast the line till the line out of the rod tip is approximately the same length as the leader length. Make one false cast laying the line straight on the water. Using the water to load the rod, make one cast and shoot. This cast should get you about 60' or so of line + leader out of the tip top.

13] how long do you let the fly sink depends on water depth and fly weight. I typically use 15 seconds for 10'.

14] retrieve the fly till the line is within 2' of the rod tip. I've have many days where the only strikes came as the fly rose off the bottom and started to ascend.

As I pointed out, I'm still learning. The Sci. Ang. line was added this year. Went from 12>8 lb. Vanish this year. Tried multil -fly rigs this year with success. The learning continues.

 

Your choice of fly line will improve your success. Typical WF fly lines are a pain in the butt as the running lines are thin and tangle readily. If you look at the line profiles for the Sci Ang. Mastery Trout . or Corlands Trout Boss in the links below, the belly of the line is obvious. I had a Rio WF line and after 2 days of frustration I gave it away to a guy who rarely cast over 30'.

 

http://buy.scientificanglers.com/lines/mastery-textured-series/mastery-textured-series-trout.html

http://www.cortlandline.com/fly-fishing/freshwater/precision-floating/trout-boss-orange

 

And for a view of the Mustad Signature Hooks. see:http://www.mustad.no/americas/2012_catl/pdfs_aug2012/122_133%20Signature%20Hooks_SHf.pdf

 

And lastly, all the fish overt 5 lbs. caught this year were on long leadering techniques.

 

Any more questions, give a shout.

 

And I gotta go plane some cane.

 

regards,

 

 

Don

[Brookie]

Thanks Don. That's what I was talking about.

[Smitty]

Thanks for the wisdom Don; chironomids are staple of (esp stillwater) trout and I don't know an angler who isn't always refining presentation techniques, including me. Never went through - yet - with my new reel and line purchases from a few months back; you have me seriously looking at that SA line.

 

Smitty

[cgyguy]

Did I miss something Don? Great post and great learning thank you! You mentioned leader tippet in the 3 - 5x range. With the 3x do you use a larger fly (12 - 14) which I always assumed was a pretty large chronomid? Great post BTW - thanks again!

[DonAndersen]

Cgyguy,

 

I get to fish waters that have trout >5 lbs. that need stronger tippets and hooks. I therefore use 3X and Mustad C68 2x short 2x strong hooks. 5X is only used for very clear waters. I do not vary tippet size to hook weight/size. Even used 3X on some size 18's last year with a lot of success.

I often wonder if leader OD matters much if fluro. is used.

Two of the larger fish caught last year were caught on a 3X dropper off a 8 lb.. Vanish leader that measures 0.011" which is generally equivalent to 0X leader material. The dropper loop is 3/4" OD with the dropper line run line of 4". The dropper was attached to the fly using a loop knot. All these means is that a lot of leader was in the immediate area of the fly. Didn't matter much.

Chironomid sizes vary widely. Alberta seems to have the widest variance of the four western provinces I fished. Size 20>6 4XL. BC tends to be smaller and thinner. Sask. and Manitoba are much like Alberta although my experience in these two is limited.

I tend to use sizes 14 and 12 C68 hooks.

Experimentation and experience will help with my learning.

Damn winter gets in the way.

 

Catch ya'

 

Don

[monger]

Counting 1.5x water depth is usually a very good rule of thumb. The theory is that fish can't see the fluro, so why not use as heavy of material as you can get away with. I've used 10lb Berkley transition for years. I feel it is the fly more than the leader that matters...especially at depths past about 13ft