Bass and Chironomids

[Sedge]

Cheech said in the 2005 challenge thread that largemouth bass can be a "hoot" on chironos.

I hadn't heard or thought of using chironos for largemouths, so this piqued my curiosity. Always wanting to expand my horizons. And it goes a little bit against the conventional wisdom that you should throw big mouthfuls at largemouths.

Can you get decent sized largemouths to hit them? What size chironos do you use?

[raposaNegra]

I use a size 8 spun hair popp.... I mean big freaking serendipity. :)

[cheech]

Can you get decent sized largemouths to hit them? What size chironos do you use?


I haven't caught any big bass on them, but I have caught a few average bass. There was a mad chironomid hatch going on at Pelican last year at the UOTF trip, so I gave it a try. It was hard for a bass to swim by and not have a taste or two of some chironomids. Bluegill on the other hand... Every cast they would pound them.

[stout_trout]

Cheech is sneaky!

He want's you all out there fishing for bass with size 20 chronos to make himself look good! When you aren't looking, he will put on a REAL bass fly and start hauling in the big boys, while you are fishing for minnows.

If his next suggestion is a size 24 bunny midge... then you've been had!

[cheech]

Cheech is sneaky!

He want's you all out there fishing for bass with size 20 chronos to make himself look good! When you aren't looking, he will put on a REAL bass fly and start hauling in the big boys, while you are fishing for minnows.

If his next suggestion is a size 24 bunny midge... then you've been had!


Nice try stout... The chironos that I was using were size 12. Meaty suckers. That's the size I always use in stillwaters.

I'm seriously not pulling any legs here. It's hard to be the boy who cries wolf

[ARW]

Midges and mayfly hatches and small ants as well. A bass can sip a mayfly or a #18 ant off the surface more gently than any trout.

[Sedge]

Stout, are you saying Cheech's bass "midge" might turn out to be reddish brown and have pincers?

. . .

That statement about using ants with bass, reminded me of when my son was flyfishing for bluegill recently, and discovered that when dangling an ant pattern over the heads of some baby bass in shallow water, a few inches above the surface of the water -- they would jump completely out of the water for the hovering fly.

[stout_trout]

Nah. I'm just giving Cheech a hard time.

The only decent sized largemouth I've caught have all been on topwater... and I haven't caught too many of them.

Cheech is the man!.. do whatever he says.

[raposaNegra]

if it is bigger than size 18? (Do chironomids get bigger than that?)

Last year as my dad and I were fishing the Green in March we got to talking to an older gent from back east. He tells me he isn't having much luck... though he says he is using the standard midge patterns. I ask him for a gander at his patterns..... He had the standard patterns all right but they were all size 10-12. First time I had ever seen a size 12 serendipity.... I gave him some of my size 18-22 stuff and off he went....

If I tie a size 4 serendipity with a big ole spun head... is it still a chironomid or is it a spun deer hair plug?

[Curtis Fry]

if it is bigger than size 18? (Do chironomids get bigger than that?)


The Chironomids at Pelican were some of the biggest I've seen. I'd say some were pushing a size #10.

In general your stillwater Chirono's are way bigger than your standard stream variety. I remember some of the Chirono patterns they would fish in the Columbia river basin lakes in Washington were huge...

[Troutmaster]

Midges and mayfly hatches and small ants as well. A bass can sip a mayfly or a #18 ant off the surface more gently than any trout.

ahem. I somehow doubt it, but then again i've never had a bass take a #18 from me either....

[cardiac]

Here's a picture I took last year up there. They are pretty big. Cheech took some home for pets. At the camp he was putting them on a leash and taking them out for evening walks.

[ARW]

Troutmaster since you are....bass are alot like trout, in that small trout hit the surface to take a mayfly, the bigger the trout get, the more gently the rise.

Yea small bass are going to make splashy rises for small ants and mays, but the bigger ones don't.

[Jason]

I caught two nice largemouth bass last year at Pelican including a bunch of 10 inch bluegill using a strike indictor and a large black midge pupa right near the bottom. The takes were ferocious. What a blast.

[Sedge]

Jason, I will have to try that here in Texas. People will simply not believe it!

[Sumner Newman]

One day at Mantua a few years ago, I caught 9 very nice LMB (about 16-18" long and 2-3 pounds, I'd guess) on a size 14 beadhead chironomid pattern under an indicator.

I fish chironomids in sizes 10 to 20 on stillwaters. I seldom use 20's. The size I most frequently use is a 14, but I often use 12's. Strawberry has good numbers of larger (size 10 or 12) chironomids in it; if you've fished there much, you've no doubt seen them. (Strawberry also has some of the little guys.) These bigger still water varieties are often referred to as "jumbo lake midges" or "buzzers". Curtis is correct that the chironomids in still waters are generally quite a bit larger than what are in streams/rivers.

[Sumner Newman]

Here's a picture I took last year up there. They are pretty big. Cheech took some home for pets. At the camp he was putting them on a leash and taking them out for evening walks.

Alan - that looks more like something you or Cheech pulled outta yer noses! :-)

[cheech]

Alan - that looks more like something you or Cheech pulled outta yer noses! :-)


Or it was pulled out of somewhere else. That was one of the best chironomid hatches that I have ever fished.

Nice pic Alan. Did you use your baptized camera for that one?

[cardiac]

Or it was pulled out of somewhere else. That was one of the best chironomid hatches that I have ever fished.

Nice pic Alan. Did you use your baptized camera for that one?
Yea it was the one. Nows I gots the wp Pentax, I won't be scared to take it aboard the SS Minnow.