Chubby Chernobyl: Is The Chubby the most popular dry fly in the world

Is The Chubby Chernobyl the best dry fly in the world?

Categories: Culture, All Stories

Tags: Chubby Chernobyl

Posted: March 31, 2025

Words by Greg Thomas

The Chubby Chernobyl is synonymous with western stonefly hatches, especially the early season skwala emergence, which makes its annual appearance on numerous western rivers in March, April and May.

To match that hatch the Chubby serves as a go-to fly for outfitters and guides. But they don't put that fly back in the box when skwala season ends; the Chubby is a great match for salmonflies, golden stones, and nocturnal stones, too. Basically, when you need a high-riding stonefly dry, it does the trick.

Let’s be honest, though—she’s not the most attractive fly in the bin. In fact, most Chubbies are just stacked pieces of foam over some shiny dubbing with one or two poly wings riding shotgun, allowing an angler to pour a pony keg’s worth of Gink over that wing if they so choose. No doubt, she rides high, which is one of the reasons the Chubby is so popular.

Guides love the Chubby because they can see their clients’ flies. Clients love the Chubby because they can see their fly. Guides and dudes also applaud the fly as a very effective strike indicator when hanging a nymph or a small dry off its stern. It’s also a very versatile fly, matching those aforementioned early stones, golden stones, salmonflies and even late-season hoppers. That means trout are always looking for it during the Big Three seasons—spring, summer and fall. Truth told, you can’t have too many of these bugs in your fly boxes.

You can buy and fish this fly in all sorts of sizes these days, ranging from size 2 to 16. The Chubby is well built for choppy cutthroat waters, but it is surprisingly popular on spring creeks and technical tailwaters, too. What the fish see, I don’t know . . . but they know it’s big and expect it to taste really good. During spring the fish might see one floating over their heads and say, Dang, Walter, that’s the biggest thing I’ve seen since last October. During fall they may think, Dang, that’s the biggest thing I’m going to see until March . . . and they simply attack. Takes can be exciting and even laughable, when a big, excitable trout leaps clean over the fly, missing it by six inches . . . and its chances for a big meal in the process.

Like other flies, the Chubby has an interesting history. People credit its origins to Utah’s Green River and a host of guides who experimented with foam before experimenting with foam was cool.

As told by Brett Prettyman, who was writing for the Salt Lake Tribune way back in 1996, in the early 90’s fishing guide Mark Forsland tied some black foam to a size-6 hook, tapered both ends, and wound an extraordinary amount of black hackle around it. Forsland asked one of his favorite clients to fish the fly and as soon as hit the water a large brown trout smashed it. Six river miles later, the client had tallied 27 fish on that fly, quickly proving its worth.

Initially, another guide, Allan Woolley, called Forsland’s creation the Black Mamba. Woolley tied his own version of that fly, this one lacking hackle and, instead, incorporated rubber legs. Woolley showed that fly to a friend who asked what it was. Woolley said, It’s an ant. The friend said, That’s no ant, that’s nuclear. And that’s how the “Chernobyl Ant” got its name.

Woolley was no stranger to fishing, nor fly tying and warned, “As more and more anglers use it, the fish will get smart on it. Just like any pattern, the fish will figure it out.” Prettyman added, “And just like all inventions, others will change one small detail and call it their own.”

That’s a standard scenario in fly tying, as tyers continue to tweak the originals, seeing if a proven pattern can be made even better. The Chernobyl Ant still catches fish, but its evolution continues. Some people stack multiple pieces of foam for the body. Some use square rubber legs, others flimsy round legs. You see everything on the water and hanging from the bankside brush during stonefly season.

So how did the Chernobyl Ant turn into the Chubby Chernobyl? According to Patrick Kilby at Rio Products, in 2003 fly designer Chris Conaty was passing a fly around the office, wondering what he should call it. It sort of looked like a Chernobyl Ant, but had a flashy tail and a dubbed body to go along with the foam overlay. It was thicker than a Chernobyl Ant and when asked what it should be called Kilby said, “What about Chubby Chernobyl?” Conaty answered, “That’s it.” And there, technically, the Chubby Chernobyl was born.

Conaty, a commercial tyer who also owns a fly company, took a stab at the Chubby Chernobyl for business purposes.

“I came up with this pattern because I was trying to compete with other similar patterns,” Conaty said. “Our reps would come in and say, ‘This is the hot fly and we need something like this.’ So, I was just trying to fill a gap. The patterns I was competing with had a thin dubbed body and a single wing and no tail. In designing flies one of the first things you have to know is if it looks good, if people will buy it. Yes, it has to catch fish. But, if putting some flash here and some legs there doesn’t affect the way it fishes, it ads some color and eye appeal to the bin.

“I took a look at all the other foam stoneflies at the time and they were all red and silver and such,” Conaty added. “So I tied it in a golden stone color and it came out good and it fished good. It was an immediate hit.

“To be honest, as a tyer, I’m not real fond of foam,” he said. “I’m not most proud of the Chubby Chernobyl, but it has been a best seller and it might be the best selling dry fly in the world. Again, I’m not a big fan, but they float a dropper better than anything else and every guide I know in Montana and Idaho fishes a Chubby with a perdigon underneath . . . all day. The fish come up and eat the Chubby more often than they would bump an indicator, so you do get the best of both worlds with it.

“I fish it hatch-specific,” Conaty added. “A size 10 is great on the Deschutes. However, early and late in the hatch purple gets the glory. For skwalas a size-10 works well, but a size 12 is better.”

Admittedly, the Chubby has become so popular and effective it’s gotten to the point where some anglers don’t even want to tell anyone what they got them on. With a big sigh they might say, “Cherbs,” which is a common term of endearment. What they are trying to avoid is one of their friends saying, “Can’t you catch fish on anything else?” If they answer, “Yes, I can catch them on Purple Hazes, too,” they might get laughed out of the room.

Whether you like the looks of the fly or not, you can’t say the Chubby isn't effective. It almost has a cult following, people who revere it for getting the job done. It can make a guide’s life easier and tips larger, and in this former guide’s mind (that being me way back in the day) that’s a winner. If this spring season you see the lights on late at a fly shop, and smoke billowing out the windows, and the chant of, Chubby, Chubby, Chubby echoing out the front door, best to run . . . or take the oath, head on in, and wind up a few.

Another bonus to fishing the Chubby is you can tie this thing to climbing rope and get away with it. No subtle 6X presentations here. Rope it to 2X or 3X and plunk it down on the water. If you want to add an element of finesse, just tie 4X or 5X from the bend of the hook to the trailing fly, which could be as small as a size-16 or 18 Baetis if needed. You can fish the Chubby dead drift or give it little twitches and such. Fish even take it on the drag. When that happens, don’t look at your guide or friends with surprise; instead, just fight your fish and coolly say, “I meant to do that.”

While the Chubby has critics it’s not going away anytime soon. However, on heavily pressured rivers even the typically eager native cutthroats can get a little tired of it. If you get several rejections on the Chubby you might swap out to a more stealthy low-riding craft. You won’t be able to see it as well, but you might get a few extra eats at the end of the day. In any case, it’s always a good call to start with the Chubby and modify later.

One final suggestion. These flies are in high demand come March, April and May, which means fly shop bins empty fast. If you’re not tying your own, best to get in early. If you find the bins depleted, just ask, When is the next shipment coming in?, and then be there or online the day it arrives. The trout should reward your diligence.

Buy These

https://flyproject.us/rios-chubby-norm

https://flyproject.us/umpqua-chubby-salmonfly-6

https://flyproject.us/rios-chubby-chernobyl

SHOP THESE
https://flyproject.us/rios-chubby-norm
https://flyproject.us/umpqua-chubby-salmonfly-6
https://flyproject.us/rios-chubby-chernobyl

Buy These

https://flyproject.us/rios-chubby-norm

https://flyproject.us/umpqua-chubby-salmonfly-6

https://flyproject.us/rios-chubby-chernobyl

Tie These

Skwala Stone Chubbies

Genryuu Size 8-10 long shank
https://flyproject.us/fly-project-genryuu-long-shank-dry-fly-hook1
Genryuu Size 8-10 standard standard shan
https://flyproject.us/the-fly-project-genryuu-standard-dry-fly-hook
Tiemco 2312 Sizxe 8-10