“It’s in the air – you can feel it – spring has finally arrived,” I thought to myself as I sat in my vehicle looking out at all the boats on White Lake. And more importantly, the first chironomid hatches were starting to come off. I watched as a slight mist rose from the water. All those anglers out there, casting their lines. They looked like a swarm of insects waving their antennae around trying to communicate with each other. Part of me wanted to be out their casting my own line. Another part of me was glad that I wasn’t part of the swarm.
Ah yes, chrironomids, those tiny little members of the two-winged order Diptera. I read somewhere that there are about 2,500 species of chironomids in North America and at least 200 different species in the B.C. Interior.
Chironomids, which begin hatching immediately after ice-off, have a complete metamorphosis. Their life cycle begins when eggs are deposited on the surface of a lake and settle into the mire and mud on the bottom. The eggs develop into larvae, which are thin worm -like creatures, half-an-inch to one inch in length, with a rather pronounced segmentation along the full length of their bodies. They are usually bright red in colour, due to a hemoglobin substance in their bodies that allows them to live in relatively oxygen-poor waters throughout the winter months.
The majority of chironomid hatches take place in waters that are no more than 10 to 20 feet deep, and although individual chironomids are often tiny in size, one only has to look at the tremendous number of empty chironomid pupae cases floating on the water to realize just how many chironomid pupae are hatching at any given time. In shades of pale green to brown, wine and black, chironomid pupae are easily identified by their pronounced segmentation along the abdomen and the presence of white feather-like gills on the head, and sometimes on the tip of the abdomen. The pupae emerge from protective tubes in the lake bottom to begin their ascent to the surface by trapping gases under the skin of their abdomen and thorax. As the pupae make their way towards the surface, they often take on a silvery mirror-like appearance. Immediately upon reaching the surface and breaking through the meniscus, a split forms along the back of the thorax, the winged adult emerges, and the mature insect flies off to mate and begin the cycle all over again.
It is during their ascent to the surface that chironomid pupae are the most vulnerable and become easy prey for opportunistic trout, which will often feed almost exclusively on the emerging pupae. Most anglers fish chironomid patterns with a floating line and a long, sinking leader. An integral part of fishing with chironomid patterns is having enough patience to wait for such a tiny fly to sink to the required depth. Strikes are often subtle and hard to recognize. It can take three to five minutes for a fly to sink 20 feet in the water. A slow retrieve is also essential ... a couple of inches, pause, a couple more inches, then a longer pause. Too fast a retrieve and your presentation looks too unnatural.
The key to successful chironomid fishing is to remember that size matters. You want your imitation to blend in with all the other little chironomids trying to emerge, so you need to select a pattern that is very close in both size and colour to the naturals that are emerging at the time.
I guess when all is said and done, I really do wish I had been out there chironomid fishing with the all those other anglers last week. Maybe I’ll just have to become a part of the swarm.