Chronomids

[frogge]

Hey,
I'm schedualled to Fish in Utah in a couple of weeks. Guide says we'll be finshing mainly chronimids. He suggested zebra midges, and a variation of the san juan worm he called a neon nightmare. I'm tying up the midges. Anyone here fish chronomid larvae. I'm wondering if they may be usefull early season. Thanks,Frogge.

 

[JeffK]

Out here they are called midges and are helpful all year. If all you had in your flybox were Zebra Midges and Al's Rats you could do OK in all four seasons.

 

[BIGBOW]

A chronomid is the nymph stage of a midge. Usually tied on a scud or emerger hook to fish below the film. A must in the box for me. I like them in green, cream, and black. Many diff ways to put them on a hook.

 

[Harry]

Frogge;
I'am out here fishing the Provo River this week. Zebra midges in black, brown, and olive are doing very well right now. Tye them in #18's down to #26's. Sunday afternoon my son and I fished a huge BWO hatch,we were picking them up on a #22 extended body BWO's and a loop wing BWO emerger fished as a dropper off of that.

_____________________
"Quit Wishing Go Fishing"

 

[McAwful]

Bigbow,

I hate to correct you but...

A chronomid is not the nymph stage of a midge. Chronomids or Midges are all part of the order Diptera and have a four stage life cycle. Egg, larva (not nymph), pupa, and adult.

McA

 

[flytire]

frogge

try some of these midges form my page

Normand Frechette flies

 

[theartoflee]

flytier

Great site those are some sick midges that I am sure will stick fish. Do you have a personal preference for for tackle rigs you might use when fishing those flys?

 

[frogge]

Hey,
Thanks for the website. You sure can tie midges. I'll be trying to do some imitations tonight. Thanks again,frogge.

 

[BIGBOW]

Bigbow,

I hate to correct you but...

A chronomid is not the nymph stage of a midge. Chronomids or Midges are all part of the order Diptera and have a four stage life cycle. Egg, larva (not nymph), pupa, and adult.

McA

You stand correct, but generally speaking, the fly fishing community labels the pupa as chronomids and the adult as midges.

 

[McAwful]

Bow,

I never heard that before. Maybe a local thing? In NJ, PA, and NY I have only heard larva, pupa, and adult.

MCA

 

[JeffK]

I never heard chronomids out East either except in Shawn Crouse's biologist reports on Round Valley (BTW, since the collapse of the alewives in Round Valley the lakers feed on chronomids and gammarids - which are midges and scuds to me). Only heard of midges at Lees Ferry - where that is the only insect they have. Seems like the chronomid name is big in the Northwest and Pacific Canada - especially in ponds and lakes where they can get pretty good sized.

This seems part of the scientific vs anglers name wars going on in fly fishing. I understand the desire for scientific clarity, but I like the old fisherman's names like olives and sulphurs (which came from PA - Catskills used to have different names) better. I like slate drake better than isonychia and grannom or shad fly better than brachycentrus. I know shad fly is used for different bugs and can create confusion, but I like the shad are running/fly is hatching/shad bush is blooming connection. And I know that March Browns and Grey Foxes are the same species now, but the flies you use for each are different to me. What's important is that the fly looks like the bug and not the scientific name. The angler's name is to help pick the right fly.

 

[BIGBOW]

Probably a war none of us would choose to enter either. Most of my mags and fly brochures have the chronomids as the pupa, wormlike flies and the dries labeled as midges.. as long as they catch fish, right?

 

[Ralph]

Chironomids - this underwater video might help

Check out the clip, it will give you a trout's perspective of what goes on in the world of midges. The YouTube compression is awful, but at least you'll get the idea!



Good luck,
Ralph Cutter

 

[Ralph]

Re: Chironomids

Scanning down the thread there appears to be a lot of confusion regarding just what a chironomid is. Chironomids are not a life phase, but simply one of nine families of midges. In British Columbia most fly fishers have never heard of a midge but instead call all nine types of midges chironomids (ki-row-no-mid).

Chironomids are extremely abundant in the Northeast, they are just called midges. In the midwest they're called gnats.

So there you have it, clear as mud - a midge by any other name is just trout food.

Ralph