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Salmo22

STILLWATER CHIRONOMID HOOKS

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I hate to admit it; however, I have never really focused on the opportunities for stillwater chironomid fishing in my home state - Arizona. I have a few "token" patterns in one of my boxes, but they rarely see the water. I'm not sure why I have not taken stillwater chironomids more seriously in the past? Maybe the patterns are not as sexy as others or maybe I'm in too big a rush to fish the damsel hatch. What ever the case, I'm going to focus this spring on becoming a better stillwater chironomid fly fisher.

 

Accordingly, I'm going to be tying-up a bunch of different chironomid patterns to fill a large stillwater fly box I've purchased specifically for this purpose. In doing some research, and the Daiichi 1260 looks like a good foundation for some stillwater chironomid patterns. It is a 2XL, round bend, straight-eye, curved shank, bronzed hook.

 

Daiichi1260big.jpg

 

What is your favorite hook for tying stillwater chironomids and why?

 

Thanks.

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By the look of the hook you posted I see you are not a barbless hook purist ;) In such case I would recommend Kamasan B110 hook, it is a solid hook for a good price. It is quite popular for buzzer fishing in the UK.

 

The British really know their buzzers, have a look at these two sets of patterns - they both use the B110 hook range.

http://www.flyforums.co.uk/trade-classifie...rs-set-1-a.html

http://www.flyforums.co.uk/trade-classifie...urs-2010-a.html

 

J.

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By the look of the hook you posted I see you are not a barbless hook purist ;) In such case I would recommend Kamasan B110 hook, it is a solid hook for a good price. It is quite popular for buzzer fishing in the UK.

 

The British really know their buzzers, have a look at these two sets of patterns - they both use the B110 hook range.

http://www.flyforums.co.uk/trade-classifie...rs-set-1-a.html

http://www.flyforums.co.uk/trade-classifie...urs-2010-a.html

 

J.

Firetiger:

 

Thanks for the info. BTW, here in the wild west, we simply bend the barb down with flat nose pliers - it works great.

 

 

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BTW, here in the wild west, we simply bend the barb down with flat nose pliers - it works great.

 

A sensible choice. Some people prefer hooks that are barbless by design, but their range is much smaller.

I have tied with Tiemco 2487BL and it is a decent barbless buzzer hook, but the Kamasan is IMHO better alternative.

 

J.

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I used the Tiemco 2487 for a few years, but in the last 3-4 years I have been tying 90%+ of my Chironomids on the Tiemco 400T Swimming nymph hook. I love the way that the fly turns out, and By studying Chironomids and watching how the move, they do look alot like the swimming nymph hook when under water. Tying on this hook has improved my catch rate by approx 30% in the last 3 years, so until this catch rate starts to go down, I will continue tying on them.

 

TMC400T.jpg

 

The one big Issue with them is that the swimming Nymph hook can be tough to find in the smaller sizes. Size 8-10 are easy to find, but the 12-16 can be tough to get your hands on. I had to use the Mustad swimming nymph hook last season because I could not find the smaller sizes in Tiemco.

 

Rick

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The Daiichi 1770 is also a swimmng nymph hook, should be easy enough to find it.

 

I've fished chironomids for about 40 years and whatever hook you want to use works fine. The original hooks used were just normal wet fly hooks and did well. If you like the shape of the hook and the chironomid you tie on it you will fish it much more confidently.

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