Ice Just Out = Chironie Bows

[Daceminnow]

been watchin all week. finally, just enough ice out to sneak a cast in. JR and I took advantage of the opportunity for a couple hours. chinonies. awesome. good to be fishing the still and open waters again. here's some pics of a couple of the nicer fish. enjoy.

Dace

[npauls]

Beauty bows as usual Dace.

Did you get any on woolys close to the shore?

We had our ice out fishing almost a month ago and it was nuts for a few days.

[drock0802]

Where is this? Is this bullshead?

[Guitarplayingfish]

Always enjoy the pictures.

Thanks for sharing, take care.

[BobLoblaw]

Nice!
Healthy looking 'bows, my friend!

[Mitchthefisher]

Great pictures, thanks for sharing!

[ddafoe]

How do do you use chironomids? Under an indicator? Real deep or shallow?

[goldscud]

Nice fish Dace. Looks like she is full of eggs wishing there was a stream nearby.

[CanAlta]

*DROOOOL*


Tonight I will be dreaming of fat bows with one of my chironomids stuck in the top of their snout Awesome Pic!

[slivers86]

nice dace, thanks for the update

[Daceminnow]

Originally Posted by npauls

Beauty bows as usual Dace.

Did you get any on woolys close to the shore?

We had our ice out fishing almost a month ago and it was nuts for a few days.

We only fished a couple hours that night Nate and never changed up much. JR started hanging a leech and after I landed my second fish after as many casts, he changed up to the chironie pretty quick. We took over a dozen fish on the same pattern and it stayed hot until I got cold and begged the boy to leave.

Originally Posted by ddafoe

How do do you use chironomids? Under an indicator? Real deep or shallow?

I'm no expert. There are a few guys on this board that could probably give you a ton of good info on fishing chironomids. Maybe start a thread and some may chime in on the topic. This particular night we were fishing from shore, casting into about 10 fow. We were suspending our chironies under a small indy at about 8'. It seemed to work that night. Here's a link to one of the many articles Brian Chan has written on chironomids and fishing them. Hope this helps.

http://www.bcadventure.com/adventure...nfession.phtml

Thanks for the comments boys.

Dace

[walking buffalo]

Here is a trick for deep water chironomid fishing from a boat.

Sometimes you will notice that the midges are hatching out in deep water, but the fish are not feeding on the adults. The bite is likely happening near the bottom. But how do you fish a floating line and a 20'+ leader? I don't. Even if you can cast this set-up, it is a pain to wait for the leader and hook to sink.

With the boat anchored, using a full sinking line, attach your hemostats to the hook and drop it to the bottom. Mark your line at the surface. Retrieve the hemostats, remove and drop the line back down and lift your line a foot or so above bottom by referencing the depth mark. Just keep the line and rod still, the boat movement is enough to elicit a strike.

This technique has produced 100 fish days when all other anglers are getting skunked.

[slivers86]

Originally Posted by walking buffalo

Here is a trick for deep water chironomid fishing from a boat.

Sometimes you will notice that the midges are hatching out in deep water, but the fish are not feeding on the adults. The bite is likely happening near the bottom. But how do you fish a floating line and a 20'+ leader? I don't. Even if you can cast this set-up, it is a pain to wait for the leader and hook to sink.

With the boat anchored, using a full sinking line, attach your hemostats to the hook and drop it to the bottom. Mark your line at the surface. Retrieve the hemostats, remove and drop the line back down and lift your line a foot or so above bottom by referencing the depth mark. Just keep the line and rod still, the boat movement is enough to elicit a strike.

This technique has produced 100 fish days when all other anglers are getting skunked.

Thanks for the advice. off to get a sink tip

[grinr]

Originally Posted by slivers86

Thanks for the advice. off to get a sink tip

Save yer money.
1)for the method described,you need a full sinking line,not a sink tip.
2)you'll also need either an extra reel,extra spool,or strip and change your line everytime....PITA if part way thru the day you want to switch to dries.
3)20' leaders aren't "extremely difficult" to cast with a bit of technique refinement
4)a 20' mono leader off a floating line with a small splitshot pinched on above your barrel swivel/tippet connection will sink as fast or faster than a full sink line.
5)you don't need to cast far or at all really from an anchored boat with floating line to cover a lot of water....set your slip indi for the desired depth,flip the whole rig over the side,and let it drift with wind while feeding out line.Imagine grid lines and cover all the water downwind of your boat by simply hand retrieving your line and beginning the drift at different positions.No casting necesary to cover all of the water 30x100' downwind if you dont want to cast?Move boat 30' crosswind,anchor and repeat.Or learn to cast the rig 50' and cover 100x100' grid from one anchor drop.

[icefever]

Nice fish as usual, weather looking great for the weekend I may head west on Sat to try it out

[Dust1n]

Awesome pics Dace!

[Daceminnow]

A couple more Bows from the other day that had a little chironomid snack.


Dace

[JReed]

Beauty Bows, must have been a blast!