Bodkin / Patterns

Hot Chocolate Chironomid Pupa

Nymph · Midge · Stillwater · Trout · Intermediate · 1 version

BCFlyguys

  • Hook Daiichi 1760 curved nymph hook
  • Thread rusty brown

Materials

  • Bead White bead (1)
  • Rib Gold middle (fine wire)
  • Body Brown holographic flash (tinsel)

How to tie it

  1. Slide a white bead onto a Daiichi 1760 and start rusty brown thread behind it, building a short thread taper that is thickest just behind the bead. Chironomid pupae are fattest at the shoulder, and getting the taper in now saves fixing it later.
  2. Capture the gold wire and then the brown holographic tinsel and bind both down the near side of the shank to the bend, then work the thread back up to finish the taper.
  3. Wind the brown holographic tinsel forward in touching turns over the taper so no thread shows, tie it off behind the bead and trim.
  4. Open-spiral the gold wire forward in the opposite direction to the tinsel. The reverse wrap is what creates crisp segmentation and locks the soft tinsel down.
  5. Tie the wire off behind the bead, helicopter it off, then whip finish a small collar of thread.
  6. Coat the body with your favourite glue or UV resin. On a smooth tinsel body the coating is what makes the fly last more than a couple of fish.

Tying videos

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