Chironomid fishing Concord White Pond-Part 1

 "Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after."
 Henry David Thoreau
This quote from this famous writer that walked the shores of the two trout ponds I fish, is the reality of the situation, especially on this beautiful crystal clear water that hides so much secrets.
 Fisherman come and go and they never quite figure it completely, that includes me, I have fished this pond frequently for about 3 years and I'm still trying to find the lost piece of the puzzle.
 But I will give you the information that I got.
 This pond is a little busy on the weekends so you should get there early if you want to fish on the morning, for me the morning is good but late afternoon is when this pond shines, everyone is packing up to go home and it gets quiet, you can ear the midges and mayflies buzzing on your ear and the huge splashes of feeding trout.
 What else could you ask for?Feeding fish and bugs on the air, but wait this is extremely clear water and the fish aren't that cooperative most of the time.
 Dry fly fishing on this pond is extremely good on late afternoons on the mid and late fall, but the rest of the year fishing a dry fly can be hard.
 That's why I have been fishing chironomids with some good results, tout see them has easy pickings and won't think twice before inhaling them.
 Early morning during spring won't have much action towards chironomid fishing, unless you fishing 2 inches from the bottom with some bloodworms.
  

 This is because on the early morning chironomids are not yet rising to the surface in big numbers, a leech pattern fished close to weed beds is a good option too.

 For the bloodworm imitation I use this pattern:

 Has for leech patterns I use a size 14 or 16 black or olive wolly bugger:

 Mid morning that's when you sould start fishing a chironomid bomber about a foot over the bottom of the lake, my go to is a blood worm about 6 inches from the bottom and a brown or black chironomid bomber about 8 to 10 inches above it.

 Chironomid bomber:

 Setup:

 Has the day progresses the chironomid hatch will be higher in the water column too, I raise my chironomids about 6 inches when I don't get a bite for more than 30 minutes, and when you're a foot and half to two foot off the bottom you can replace the blood worm for something like a chromie or another bomber, it's unnatural for the blood worm stage of the chironomid to free swim too high of the bottom, so trout won't bite it has much has a pupa stage.

 Chromie:

Now mid to late afternoon is more of a stage on the hatch of emergence, chironomids are trying to break the surface of the water and trout gorge on them by the thousands, this is the time for a black klinkhammer, or my favorite technique a size 18 dry midge or a blue wing olive with 6 inch of tippet tied to the bend and a size 16 to 26 crystal midge.

This is the end of part 1, be on the lookout for part 2 of this post, I will have some location tips on part 2.
Good luck out there!

Rui Machado

Chironomid Bomber

 Hi today I'm going to talk about a simple and effective pattern to fish on stillwater.
 This fly is supposed to imitate those bigger chironomids coming up on late spring time and fall, you can go all the way to a size 8, personally where I fish bombers are never bigger than a 10 and I like to fish a size smaller.
Material list:
dritz 9530W Braided Elastic, White, 8-Yard by 1/4-Inch
 UTC Ultra Wire Small Gold - Fly Tying
Strung Peacock Herl - Natural 6-8" - 1/8 0z
UTC Ultra Thread 140 (Dark Brown (UT1073))
PandaHall Elite Round Glass Seed Beads Opaque Colours White Diameter 2-3mm About 1500Pcs for Jewelry Making
Orvis Curved Nymph Hook


 1-Tie some gills in, I use some white elastic(Braided Elastic, White), and whip finish you thread.

2-Run a white bead thru your hook and over your thread and cut back the gills.

3-Tie you thread back in and tie some copper wire for ribbing, make sure to make a nice tapered body.

4-Wrap you copper ribbing all the way to the bead and tie it off.

5-Add 2 peacock herls behind the bead and make 2 to 3 wraps to create a thorax.

6- Whip finish your fly and you're done.

Fished under one of these indicators it's deadly.
Thigh lines
Rui Machado

My version of the WD-40

 Hi today i will show how I tie my version of the WD-40.

 This is going to be a black version of it but you can tie it in olive, brown, grey and white, they will all produce, but have in mind that with black I'm going for a midge imitation.

 It's a great fly for pressured waters, tailwaters and stillwater nymphing.

 Here is the material list:

-Krystal Dub-grey

-Orvis Scud, Shrimp, San Juan Worm Hook / Only Box Of 25, 18

-Wapsi Tungsten Beads Gold: 3/32")

-14/0 Veevus Thread (Black (B01))

-Whiting Grizzly Hackle

Now let's tie!

1- Smash the hook barb to get the bead to slide in, securely attach the hook to the vise and lay a thread base all the way to the middle of the hook bend. 

2-Grab a hackle feather and pull between  5 to 10 hackle barbs for a tail(mallard can be used here but this works as good and cheaper) and tie it in.

3-Using your thread make a nice tapered body.

 4- Grab you hackle again and pull from the feather about 10 to 15 barbs this time, they will be used for a wing case, and tie them in. 

 5-After your wing case tied in grab a small pinch of dubbing and make a slim noodle (less is more with dubbing, you can always had more if needed).

 6-Wrap you dubbing to form a thorax of about the same thickness of the bead and tie down you wing case right behind the bead(you should be able to pull the thread in the space between the bead and the dubbing to hide the thread).

 7- Whip finish you fly and you're all done.

PS: Some people add UV resin to the wing case, it will add some more durability to it, but if you want to whip 20 of these per hour you will skip this as well.

Hope you enjoyed it and stay tuned to the blog, this week will be dedicated to stillwater nymphing patterns and tips.

Tight lines!

Rui Machado 

My fastest and most effective fly for bass and pike

 Today we will talk about the pike bunny.
 It's a fly that can be tied in 2 minutes and will be one of the most effective streamers you will tie.
 You will need 4 materials:
-Hareline Crosscut Rabbit Strips
-Rabbit Strips
-Mustad 34007-SS O'Shaughnessy Stainless Steel Hook
-UTC Ultra Thread 210 (Black (UT3100))
 That's it, you can add eyes to the head of the fly but I don't think it's necessary.

 1-Start by layering a base layer of thread all the way to the bend of the hook:

 2-Tie your preferred color of rabbit for a tail:

 3-Tie in a section of crosscut strip the same color has the tail and give it a couple of wraps depending on the size of the hook, you want to be halfway in the shank of the hook and tie it of and cut the excess:

 4- Tie another section of crosscut strip with your preferred color (I like to do a contrasting color compared to the tail), and wrap the material all the way to the eye of the hook, for you don't crowd the hook the easiest trick is to wrap all the way them take half a wrap back:

 5-Make a nice head of thread and tie of your thread:

 6-This is optional now, I like to use some Loon UV Resin on the head of the fly, you can put some eyes on it before you coat with the UV but like I said before it's not something that will make a difference on the fishing ability of the fly:

Note: bigger hooks go with magnum rabbit strips, 1/0 and smaller regular rabbit is perfect.
 That's it, after you tie and fish one you will be making them in all different color combinations you can even think off.
 Give them a go this spring for any freshwater predator on your home waters and you will be surprised on what a simple fly can do.

Tight lines everyone!

Rui Machado 

Wild water 7FT 3/4 WT fly rod

 Hi, today I'm, going to talk about a beginner's combo, that in my opinion is the best bang for your buck on the fly fishing industry, it's the:

 

 This package comes with a great rod that includes lifetime warranty, a functional reel that will surely last you for a couple seasons before you need to upgrade, wt forward floating fly line with backing and 2 leaders which one is already attached, a good quality box with 9 flies that you will surely use on any stream anywhere in the globe, and if that wasn't enough you get a quality rod case with rod sock.
 -The rod:
It's a slow action, mid flex IM6 graphite, short terms easier to learn how to cast, and even the experienced caster will enjoy this rod the same way, and with a lifetime warranty there is no doubts that this is a wonderful deal.
-The reel:
In my opinion the reel it's not the best in the market, but don't get me wrong it isn't the worst either, on another note the reel is solid, decent drag and large harbor will get you a good capacity of line without the small coils.
-The line:
This line will definitely cast clean and with easy loading of the rod, it isn't a Rio Gold Fly Linebut mine lasted for 2 seasons already and still looking pretty good.
 -Backing:
Not much to say here, it's only an extension to your length of fly line.
 -Leaders:
The leaders are good leaders but I would advice to cut the one attached and attach one of these Braided Loops to the end of you fly line, it will make you life easier when the need for a leader change comes.
 -Fly box:
It is a very good quality box, I still use mine and being waterproof when I take a dip into the river water won't get inside the box and rust all my flies.
 -Flies:
Again not much to say, the Adams Parachute is the most used fly and best all round fly for any mayfly hatch, just match the size of you fly to the real bugs on your area,the Hare's Ear Nymph is a suggestive pattern that can imitate anything from a mayfly to a stonefly, just again match the size to the real bugs on your waters, and last the Black Ant Fly is an extremely effective fly on the summer months, especially on days with a little breeze.
 -Rod case and sock:
For me it's an essential, when you have your rod on the trunk of the car all the time and get to a river that is 2 hours away from your house there is nothing worst than notice you broke the tip of your rod, not a big problem here because you have lifetime warranty right? Wrong, you just drove for 2 hour to enjoy some fishing and now you have to drive back 2 hours without even make a cast.Make sure you use this sock and case, they will protect you rod and reel for an amazing day at the water.

Here is a photo of this rod in action

and a little video(sorry for the quality but we forgot the camera at home so it was filmed on a phone):

Hope I could help you choose a decent fly rod, good luck on the water!

Rui Machado