Good stuff. It's always fun observing your dedication and creative means to matching the hatch, stonefish. I think I need to take a cue from you and do some lake fishing soon. I've been holding out for the rivers to drop to a reasonable fly fishing level, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen before July at this point. I should probably use the opportunity to learn more about how to fish trout in cold weather so I will always have a reasonable alternative to steelheading during our brutally long winters.

Up until now, I thought that a chromie was the chironomid equivalent of an attractor fly. It's interesting to learn that there are, in fact, silvery-hued chironomids, and that those likely explain why the chromie can be so effective. I will say that, of what chironomids I have fished, I have had the most success with chromies. One rig I used pretty effectively last season was using a chromie as a dropper fly below a mini leech. The fish took the flies at about a 50/50 ratio.

I've said more than once that I hate fishing chironomids, but I think that's mostly because I haven't caught a ton of fish on them. Why? Well, apparently, it's because I haven't made an honest effort to learn the ropes and make sure I'm always fishing them effectively. Or... it could be that I haven't tried the Diet Coke chromie.