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Chubby Chernobyl

A dry fly, tied #8–14, a summer pattern. It is tied against 7 named insects in this book, and stands in when nothing is hatching — May–September.

Two layers of tan and brown foam banded along a 3X long dry-fly hook in sizes 8–14, two pairs of round rubber legs, and two clumps of white or grey poly yarn for wings, tied with tan 6/0 thread — the Chubby Chernobyl is a foam attractor and an indicator in one. It floats a hopper, a big stonefly, or simply something large and buoyant with a nymph hung beneath it, which is where hopper-dropper season begins. It is a summer fly, fished tight to the bank, and it takes trout and smallmouth bass. The pattern is tied against the Giant Black Stonefly or Salmonfly, Pteronarcys dorsata, May–June at 50–62°F; the Golden Stonefly, Acroneuria spp., June–July at 55–68°F; the Grasshopper, Acrididae, July–September at 60–80°F; the Japanese Beetle, Popillia japonica, July–August at 60–80°F; and the June Bug or Beetle, Phyllophaga spp., June–July at 58–75°F. It also serves as a searching pattern when nothing is hatching.

What it looks like

A drawing, not a photograph, and not traced from one. Its proportions were read off 5 independent reference photographs of the pattern and written down as 6 measured characteristics — wing angle, tail length against the shank, how far a hackle fibre reaches — every one of which had to hold across more than one of them before it could be drawn. What survives across many photographs of a fly is the fly.

A raft. Two stacked foam layers hold it up in any water at all, the white poly wings are there so the angler can see it, and the rubber legs are the only part that looks alive. Drawn at #12 — 16.6 mm of shank and 5.0 mm of gape on a Tiemco 100.
#8#10#12#1410 mm
The bare hook at every size this pattern is tied in, all to the same scale. There is no industry standard behind a hook number, so these are Tiemco 100 measurements and another maker's 8 will differ a little.

What it imitates

Each of these is the same hatch record the app's own panel reads, so a pattern recommended on a river card in the app is recommended for one of the insects below.

It is also tagged for no hatch at all — a searching pattern.

Tying recipe

In tying order. This dressing is the standard one — these patterns have been in the publicrecord for decades — and materials substitute freely: the proportions and the silhouette are the pattern, not the brand of dubbing.

Hook3X long dry-fly hook, sizes 8–14
ThreadTan 6/0
BodyTwo layers of tan and brown foam, banded
LegsRound rubber, two pairs
WingsWhite or grey poly yarn, in two clumps

When to fish it

A hopper, a big stonefly, or simply something large and buoyant to hang a nymph from. Summer, tight to the bank.

A summer pattern. The insects it matches are active may–september, in water from 50°F to 80°F.

Target species

Rivers it fishes well

Rivers with a page here that sit in the regions where the insects this pattern imitates are recorded. It is a claim about coverage, not a report of a fish caught.

Related patterns

Same type of fly, or tied for the same insects.

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