Anti-static bag strip Pearl anti static bag strip (body)
Permanent marker Red buzzer wrap (butt)
Permanent marker Orange permanent marker (thorax)
How to tie it
Put a copper bead sized to the hook on a Daiichi 1120 and tie in the usual Uni-Stretch gills up top.
Start white 8/0 thread on the shank and begin building your taper, then tie in extra small copper wire and crank it down into the bend. Extra small wire has become the go-to for almost every chironomid here; small is reserved for bombers.
Cut a notch in the end of an anti-static bag strip to give yourself a clean tie-in point, tie it in at the rear, and finish the thread taper. Keep the wraps flat and smooth, because the smoother the underbody the easier every material after it goes on.
Colour a short red butt straight onto the white thread with a marker at the back of the body. White thread under ASB shines the strip up, and the red bleeds through it as a subtle butt without any of the bulk that a separate material would add.
Wrap the ASB forward without overlapping and without leaving gaps, capture it with a few wraps in front of and behind the tie-off point, then nick the edge with your scissors and pull under thread tension so it breaks clean with no tag.
Rib forward with the copper wire in open spirals up to the bead, tie off and helicopter it out. Colour the thorax with an orange marker rather than adding another material, then take a few wraps to cover the white, clean up the gills and whip finish.
Coat with resin or superglue. If you want a louder red butt, colour the thread underneath and then colour the outside of the ASB as well before you rib it, but you must coat it or the ink will wash off in the water.