Troutnut Forum > Specimen Discussion > Chimarra

The Specimen

The Discussion

GONZO	April 3rd, 2007, 12:27 pm
"Bear Swamp," PA Posts: 866	If I'm seeing things correctly, this appears to be Chimarra.
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Martinlf	April 4th, 2007, 8:14 am
Palmyra PA Posts: 903	Are imitations of this larva effective? Charlie Meck claims they are, and I wonder if the fish actually see them and eat them, or are primarily responding to his little orange worm as an attractor. Any ideas?
	Louis Is it not an art to deceive a trout with an artificial fly? A trout! that is more sharp-sighted than any hawk . . . and more watchful and timorous than your high-mettled merlin is bold! --Izaak Walton The Compleat Angler
Troutnut	April 4th, 2007, 11:21 am
Fairbanks, AK Posts: 1113	I've never tried. When I've found them, it's usually just two or three larvae in a sample with hundreds of Ephemerella and Baetid mayflies and Hydropsychid caddisflies and other more common critters. It's safe to say they're not a major food source on the streams I've sampled, but perhaps they're locally abundant elsewhere.
	Jason Neuswanger The Troutnut
GONZO	April 4th, 2007, 12:51 pm
"Bear Swamp," PA Posts: 866	Louis, On streams where they are abundant (the Brodheads and the Yellow Breeches are two examples of very different streams with good populations) the imitations are good for both of the reasons you mention. Like the bright green Rhyacophila larvae, they combine imitation and attraction. The best populations are usually in larger waters.
Martinlf	April 4th, 2007, 1:42 pm
Palmyra PA Posts: 903	Pattern suggestions? Dubbing color?
	Louis Is it not an art to deceive a trout with an artificial fly? A trout! that is more sharp-sighted than any hawk . . . and more watchful and timorous than your high-mettled merlin is bold! --Izaak Walton The Compleat Angler
GONZO	April 4th, 2007, 2:33 pm
"Bear Swamp," PA Posts: 866	Pretty simple--a little curved hook, dark yellow to yellowish orange dubbing (rib with fine gold wire, if you like), thread legs or yellow/orange-dyed partridge fibers (optional), brown head. While the larval pattern can be a useful searching fly, my favorite aspect of Chimarra is fishing the emerging pupae. You need to locate an emergence site where the pupae crawl out in large numbers. Sometimes you can do this by looking for concentrations of the recently hatched adults on the underside of leaves and wood low along the edge of the stream. The coolest thing, however, is that if you stand for any length of time in a good site during the emergence time, the freshly hatched adults will soon be all over your waders above the waterline. Then you simply need to tie on a little black pupa and crawl it along the bottom!
Mlajoie	March 19th, 2008, 1:46 pm
Posts: 6	In response to the original comment: Not that the correct genus of Philopotamid matters when tying/using flies, but you would be able to get an easy ID if you could see a top-view of the head capsule. Chimarra sp. has an obvious emargination at the apex of the frontoclypeus. Dolophilodes and Wormaldia can be identified by the shapes of their frontoclypeal sutures. In the future, take closeups looking down on the head for ID purposes.
Troutnut	March 19th, 2008, 2:41 pm
Fairbanks, AK Posts: 1113	Thanks, I'll give that a try.
	Jason Neuswanger The Troutnut
Kroil	March 19th, 2008, 6:52 pm
Coastal NJ Posts: 34	I would say they are a crucial early season protein source in the catskills. I would even bet that they make up a large percentage of the early season invertabrate flow as a trout food. My autopsies have shown this (both pupal and adult stage) and I seem to dupe quite a few early season fish in slow hatch periods with smallish 18/20 black/charcoal patterns. I can't speak to the effectiveness of pupal or emerging patterns,'cuz Dave don't do that kinda fishing.
	When I found the skull in the woods, the first thing I did was call the police. But then I got curious about it. I picked it up, and started wondering who this person was, and why he had deer horns. - Jack Handey
Martinlf	March 24th, 2008, 7:46 pm
Palmyra PA Posts: 903	When there are no rises when Chimarra are active one can find fish taking small peacock and starling wet flies either dead drifted or on the swing.
	Louis Is it not an art to deceive a trout with an artificial fly? A trout! that is more sharp-sighted than any hawk . . . and more watchful and timorous than your high-mettled merlin is bold! --Izaak Walton The Compleat Angler

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