I've been doing a lot of lake fishing lately. Most of the fishing has been in deeper water, 18-20'. Fishing has been pretty good with the best pattern being Phil Rowley's "Chromie".
I generally tie them up using either holographic mylar or anti-static bags.
The past few times I've throat pumped fish, I've noticed the emerging chironomid pupa have had a lot less shiny silver appearance. More like a flat silver look tending toward white.
Like all fly tiers, I'm alway looking at stuff figuring out how I can tie with it. I played around tonight with a new material trying to get the look of the pupa I'd seen last weekend. The material was a Diet Coke label.
The bug came out pretty much like I wanted, not too shiny and less bold in appearance.
The mylar is on the right, anti-static bag in the middle and the label on the right.
I'll give it a go this weekend to see how the fish like them.
SF

Stone,

Nice ties...I'll bet they work.

I wouldn't have thought in a 100 years to try something like that.

I don't get/understand half of the stuff in fly shops that are specifically designed for fly fishing let alone letting my mind wander to other materials that could work.

Nice!

Not to imply that your bugs are anything less then pretty, but I really appreciate a function over form mentality and innovative thinking!

I am reminded of the trout bums who incorporated gum and candy bar wrappers that happened to come in the perfect shade of blue in order to match the blow fly hatch.

Definite bonus points for style in the arts and crafts department.

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.

As a member of "Team Diet Coke," I support this design.

Seran wrap comes in many colors and works great. Fancy bag linings they sell in craft stores for gift baskets, craft lace, cross stitch thread which comes in some really nice metallic colors, and many other things have been used to fill my fly boxes over the years.

Buy a little, soak it in water to see if it bleeds or falls apart than buy more if it holds together.

Craft stores and dollar type stores are a wealth of tons of stuff that can be incorporated into tying and saving money.

I do love the Coke wrapper though, Mt. Dew should make a nice green "Chromie".

Fishy....very nice...

cool idea and pattern!