Anti Static Bag Chironomids
 

Hey All,

I'm having issues tying these properly. I had a fellow angler out here in BC give me a anti-static chironomid with a red under belly after I watched him pull endless amounts of trout out of the water one day when I was getting skunked! Sure enough I threw the pattern on and was nailing them for the rest of the evening. I've tried to re-create the pattern a whack of times and it never quite turns out the same.

I can't seem to get the first red underbody to show up through the anti-static bag layer. I've tried actual anti-static bags and the window tint squares they sell at the fly shop and they both seem to overpower any colour I use as the underbody. I know the underbody is supposed to show up very faint but I can't seem to get any at all.

Any tips?

What material are you using for the red underbody?

I've tried a bunch of different things. Stretch floss, buzzer wrap, thread, uni-stretch.

You could try some red flashabou

anti-static bags come in 3 different densities, the darkest allows almost nothing to show through.

use "white" thread for the underbody then color the bottom 1/4 of thread with a "red Sharpie" before adding the ASB. Works for me.

If you really want a red underbody, try red flashabou or wrap silver tinsel or white thread first and then red stretch floss/thread/etc. on top and then the ASB over top everything.
When you coat the bug in sally Hansen or epoxy, it turns everything wet and translucent and the material takes on the tone of the background (bronze hook). Sort of the same idea as using white primer paint instead of a dark colour...if that makes sense?

In the end, I really can't see a red underbody being anymore effective than a regular ASB chirono of the same size and shape, but hope this helps...

And also what professor said. Thin bag material allows more of the background to show through.

Awesome, Thanks for the tip. I really believe that the underbody does make a difference. This fly i'm talking about absolutely kills when the bloodworms are happening. Beats all my other bloodworm patterns.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lzleONiV5w try this

As stated above there are 3 shades of ASB. I have also seen green and also blue tinted ones. The suggestions of white thread and red sharpie are good. I also use either Sally Hanson's Hard clear nail polish or Loctite brush on crazy glue to coat them. I usually use 2 thin coats.

I am in the middle of tying some. I have about 150 tied for a few different customers. Of those only about 30 are ASB ones. The majority want red/black rib or green/black rib ones. Mind you the colors are endless.

Even when you do a throat sample the color variations are often varied. I was looking at a few chironomids that Don Anderson had taken a picture of and they were brown and almost chrome with a black rib. Then another throat sample from another fish were blood worms. It just goes to show that every throat sample can vary a fair amount from fish to fish.