04_2025_REELLIFE_digital - Flipbook - Page 30
hour. That makes them
vulnerable to rainbows,
browns, and cutthroat.
For me, in most cases,
I want a No. 10 red
chironomid hung just
over the top of the weeds,
while a black chironomid
rides about 18 inches
above it. Studies have
been made on a number
of lakes to determine the
main food source for the
trout. Chironomids are
midges, which look a little
like mosquitoes, but lack
that terrible creature’s
bite. On many lakes, the
midges make up close
to 40 percent of a trout’s
annual food intake. If there’s
nothing else going on, you
can bet the fish will eat a
chironomid. But fishing a
chironomid is different than
fishing imitations of other
bugs.
Midges don’t have legs or
tails like mayfly nymphs or
damselfly nymphs. So you
want a vertical presentation
instead of a horizontal
presentation.
As chironomids hatch,
they are trying to produce
oxygen between their
exoskeleton, their nymphal
shuck, and the adult body.
They come up out of the
mud and they suspend
about 12 to 18 inches above
the bottom, for up to an
Chironomid imitations
work wherever trout make
a living. The hardest thing
about it is the fish don’t set
the hook themselves. You
have to watch that indicator
all-day
In Central Oregon, we fish
chironomids on East, Lava,
Little Lava, Hosmer, and
even Wickiup for browns.
They are a major food
source for a lot of insecteating trout. The tactics
do not change that much
except for the depth the
angler is fishing.
