Chubby Chernobyl Fly Patterns

Chubby Chernobyl flies are a newer iteration of the old Chernobyl Ant pattern used by many fishermen several years ago. This odd looking fly is a go to fly when the Salmonflies and Golden Stones begin their annual hatch, which is mid-May into June. This is one of the best hatches of the year. Check out my Salmonflies blog post that I recently wrote to see some pictures of the real bugs.

Tie this fly in many color combinations. The fly above is the size 8 Chubby Chernobyl Golden Stone and has seen countless fish explode on the surface to eat it.

Purple? That’s right…for some reason the color purple is a good choice. Who knows why. Give it a try. I did yesterday on the Lower Deschutes and moved a few trout with it, hooking and landing one. It’s fun to watch trout rise to flies like this and MISS them. Usually, it’s a downstream take and you can watch the trout’s head come out of the water and miss the fly.

Here is my latest version of the Salmonfly. I tie it in size 4, which ends up being a BIG bug. It worked yesterday as well. Perhaps the fish think black Ice Dub I use for the black banding represents the egg sac of female Salmonflies…who knows. All I know is I had some action on the fly.

If you don’t tie flies, not to worry as your local fly shop has several colors to choose from.

Try one, you might be surprised!

Enjoy…go fish!