Phil Rowley Has A Chironomid Problem

Words by Greg Thomas

TO AVOID THE SKUNK, PHIL IS ALWAYS ARMED WITH THESE MUST-HAVE SPRING STILLWATER PATTERNS.

Don’t be fooled: Phil Rowley may look comfortable and ultra confident when fishing a chironomid hatch, but inside he could be a mess.

That’s because mastering the chironomid game, on any given day—even for a guy who has literally written the books on the subject—can be a complex and challenging experience. Just ask Rowley who, after 30-some years of hardcore stillwater angling, isn’t too proud to say he still gets skunked.

“Fly fishing is a jigsaw puzzle,” he said. “Sometimes it’s a three-year-old’s game with six pieces; the next day it’s 50,000 pieces of blue sky with no box top for reference. Chironomid fishing is that 50,000-piece puzzle. I try to set myself up for success, but I still get skunked. That’s part of fishing and everybody has to come to terms with it.”

Rowley started fishing at age six and took to fly fishing in his early twenties. While living in Vancouver, British Columbia, he visited Cameron Lake on Vancouver Island. In a week of fly fishing he landed one small rainbow—maybe an eight or 10-inch fish. One evening a man walked down to the lake with a wicker creel and a fly rod in hand. In two hours he landed more fish than Rowley saw all week.

“It looked like I’d seen the ghost of Haig-Brown,” Rowley said. “I wanted to be that guy. So, I called a friend in Vancouver who had tried to get me started in fly fishing. He gave me some casting lessons. Then we went to the upper Skagit River. I got two fish on dries. I’d never experienced anything like it. The fight was incredible. A light switch went off. From then on, everything I did was focussed on fly fishing.”

Rowley started tying flies in Vancouver and writing articles for several periodicals. Next came a book: Fly Patterns For Stillwaters, which was published by Frank Amato Publications. Of the book-writing experience Rowley said, “I vowed not to write another. The research is fun. The photography is fun. But the writing is painful. It’s hard work. And there’s no financial pot at the end of the rainbow.” Since that time Rowley has penned four more.

“It’s not Stephen King or Harry Potter,” Rowley said. “It’s fly fishing. But the writing keeps you relevant and leads to other things. It was my stepping stone to speaking gigs, TV, podcasting, online courses, partner sponsorships, and contract tying with Montana Fly Company.”

Rowley now lives with his wife, Patsy, in Edmonton, Alberta, which allows opportunities to fish across Canada, down into the states, and as far away as Lake Strobel (aka Jurassic Lake) in Argentina, where he can hammer away on rainbows that range between five and 20 pounds. Still, if he had to pick one hatch to work the rest of his life, he’d choose that challenging spring chironomid fishing.

“I come across as pretty laid back,” Rowley said, “but inside I’m like, Why is this not working? Why did that change make this happen. Why are they eating this and not that? Why were they here yesterday and not today? I like the biology and entomology side of fly fishing. I like to know how trout function in their world. Thinking about that stuff makes me better on the water.

“Really, chironomid fishing is one of the most difficult things to learn,” Rowley added. “But, spring chironomid fishing is my number one thing. You are coming off winter and have cabin fever, so you’re fired up to go. Then there’s the whole mystique thing—everyone thinks it’s as simple as hanging something off a bobber. That’s not true. It can be very frustrating.

“You have the pupa and the larvae to work with,” Rowley said. “Trout take both, but often it’s one or the other. The pupa is the most exposed and caloric-rich option. At first they are small, dull and barely move; as the hatch progresses the pupae often change color and become brighter and more active. Success is about depth, presentation and retrieve. You can let it sit. You can hand twist it. You can give it a short strip or a long strip. You can change location. Change depth. Eventually, you might change your fly. I only play the fly change game when everyone is doing the same thing and other people are getting grabs and I’m not. Then it may be the fly. Most often it’s depth and pace. Once you put it in front of the fish and find the right pace, you got it.”

During spring chironomid hatches “putting it in front of the fish” usually means finding bottom and placing your flies just above it. Finding bottom, where fish feel safe and most of the food exists, isn’t always a cakewalk.

When this author fished British Columbia with Rowley’s business partner and fellow Canadian, Brian Chan, just getting a fly 10 feet from the boat seemed monumental. Chan anchored in 23 feet of water, told me to tie 20 feet of tippet to my existing leader and added, “Clip a lead weight on your fly and drop it to bottom.” Say what? Chan sensed my skepticism and said, “It’s not pretty.”

When the weight hit bottom and my leader went slack, I reeled in a half-foot so my fly would be six inches off bottom. I pegged a cork to the leader at the water line, and then hand-lined the fly in and removed the weight. This way, Chan explained, I could “cast” the fly and let it sit, knowing it would be about six inches off bottom, right where Chan marked a wad of fish on his sonar. A bead head on the chironomid, plus a barrel swivel placed eight inches above the fly, was all the weight needed to reach that depth. Once I’d awkwardly cast the fly out 10 feet it was simply a waiting game.

Rowley and Chan spent years mastering stillwater fly fishing, often with questioning eyes upon them. “We are the ugly stepchildren that nobody understands, living in the basement and sometimes throwing 25-foot leaders,” Rowley said. Seemingly strange or not, these techniques work great during spring chironomid hatches no matter where they are found, and equally well when larger chironomids, often called bombers, come off in mid-to late summer.

Unfortunately, to find fish you have to be mobile. Chan and Rowley rarely fish until they’ve marked a solid school on sonar. That way, they maximize time with their flies in front of fish, versus covering barren portions of a lake.To do so, you have to be on the water.

“You need some kind of watercraft,” Rowley said. “Floattubes are affordable but, like any boat, they have limitations. If you are restricted to shore you have issues with backcasts, weed growth, mucky bottom. There are places where shore fishing can be good, like Strobel, but not in my neck of the woods. Occasionally, I have to tell my wife, ‘I have five boats for a reason.’”

When tackling the spring chironomid hatch, other factors to consider are ice off and lake turnover. Generally, ice off is a great time to fish. However, as a lake warms it “turns over” and oxygenated surface water mixes with less oxygenated water near the bottom. During turnover, overall oxygen levels diminish, chemicals such as methane are released, and decomposed vegetation lifts from the bottom and scatters in the water column. This creates murky water conditions and puts the fishing off for a few days to a week. As oxygen levels stabilize, the water clears, insect hatches spike, and the fish begin to hunt.

“When the ice comes off the fishing can be crazy,” Rowley said. “The fish look for muddy bottoms mostly on the north end of lakes and concentrate in the shallows where the oxygen is. This ‘pre-turnover' fishing lasts for a week to 10 days. The water temperature may only be 35-to 40 degrees, but the fish are on.

“When the lake goes into turnover the fishing is off for five days to a week,” Rowley said. “But lake turnover is not like stream runoff where everything is blown out at once; lakes are located at various elevations and do not turn over at the same time. That means there’s always a lake that is fishing great from ice-off through June.

“After turnover the water temperatures are in the 50s and you get a lot more bugs,” Rowley added. “The chironomids are going and the Callibaetis, dragons and damsels start up. So you could be fishing three or four food sources throughout the day.”

Coming to terms with spring hatches, especially the chironomid, isn’t the easiest thing. In the end, however, to be a successful stillwater angler you have to stay after it. But, as Rowley said, don’t get it wrong: figuring out chironomids is not like rocket science.

“Trout are like us,” he said. “We may get really full on steak and potatoes, but we see some peanuts and jellybeans and we can’t help ourselves—we eat them out of reflex. Trout are the same way with chironomids. If you don’t completely figure it out they’ll help you.”

IN HIS WORDS: PHIL ROWLEY’S FAB MUST-HAVE SPRING STILLWATER PATTERNS

CHROMIE

Why: Early in their emergence chironomid pupa are typically dull, suspending just above bottom in large numbers. They move slowly at first. Over time, they gather gases beneath their pupal skin. These gassed-up pupa are bright and active as they begin their ascent to the surface, and trout to love them. The silver body and red rib of my Chromie do an excellent job representing these gassed-up pupa. The Chromie is 35 years old and still catches fish. I never leave home without it.

To shop Phil Rowley's Chromie click here

COLLABORATOR

Why: Developed years ago, through a collaborative tying session over breakfast, the Collaborator, like my Chiromis, is a pattern I never leave home without. The burnt-orange tone has proven itself on lakes all over North America. Even if other trout seem focused on different colored chironomid pupa, they always have room for a Collaborator.

To shop Phil Rowley's Collaborator click here

GREY BOY

Why: Before a chironomid pupa is fully gassed up and bright, they are often a transitional pewter or gunmetal color. Trout often key in on these pupa. My Grey Boy does an excellent job suggesting this phase. The subtle hot orange hot spot also stands out in a crowd, calling fish over to investigate and take it. When the hatch is dense and chironomids are emerging, as it often is, having a pattern that stands out in the crowd can be a difference maker.

To shop Phil Rowley's Grey Boy click here

HERL MAY FLASHBACK CALLIBAETIS

Why: Callibaetis are the main mayfly species found in productive western lakes. When they are present, they typically occur in large numbers. Although many fly fishers gravitate to fishing dries and emergers, imitating the slender, active nymphs offers the largest margin of success. My Herl May Flashback is one of my go-to Callibaetis nymphs. The flashback wing case suggests the trapped gases the nymphs use to aid in emergence, and the contrasting peacock herl thorax represents the darkened wing pads and thorax of the natural nymphs. This simple fly doesn’t look like much, but when Callibaetis nymphs are on the menu, it can be magical.

To shop Phil Rowley's Herl May Flashback click here

PEARLY DAMSEL

Why: The Strip Tease Damsel and Grizzly Damsel are amongst my favorite damsel patterns. However, the sleek, slender lines of my Pearly Damsel makes this my go-to damsel pattern. As fish eat more and more damsel nymphs they can become frustratingly selective. In these situations, the Pearly Damsel often meets this presentation challenge. As damsels are an active predator they are always on the move, which makes a damsel nymph an excellent searching pattern throughout the season, not just during a hatch.

To shop Phil Rowley's Pearly Damsel click here

FAB’S FOAM ARSED BLOB

Why: Trout don’t always take our flies out of a feeding response, and they don’t feed all the time. Sometimes, attractor flies, such as the FAB, are required to trigger a take. The FAB’s split foam tail provides a unique action and, coupled with its fluorescent body, calls fish from a distance. This fly can be fished by itself, but it shines in a team effort. At times, trout take the FAB. Other times, they react positively to a nearby, natural-looking pattern, such as the Collaborator, Herl May Flashback or Pearly Damsel. When fishing this fly in a team, place it in the point position so it helps suspend other flies off independent droppers, so they hang like clothes off a washing line. This washing line technique is one of the deadliest stillwater presentations you can employ.

To shop Phil Rowley's FAB click here

BALANCED LEECH (BRUISED COLORATION)

Why: Balanced flies are designed to suspend beneath an indicator horizontally, just as natural leeches and minnow move. Trout can’t seem to resist a suspended Balanced Leech. Even when fishing is slow, I can always rely on a Balanced Leech to produce a fish or two any time during the season. Don’t be afraid to fish a Balanced Leech using cast-and-retrieve tactics. Trout find the seductive jigging action irresistible. I never go anywhere without a selection of Balanced Leeches, especially my bruised version.

To shop Phil Rowley's Balanced Leech click here