Nearly all that I can say about the Chernobyl ant is contained in my three previous posts on this workhorse fly. In my last post which can be accessed using the link above, I mentioned using a new method of tying the foam body that would hopefully eliminate the spinning problem that plagued my ants previously. After using flies constructed in this manner during 2014, I can report that the fold over method does in fact largely eliminate the problem of the foam layer spinning around the hook shank.

Chernobyl Ant Tying Time

The Chernobyl ant continued to be my favorite large buoyant attractor fly during the past season, and I deployed it often in a dry/dropper configuration. I cannot support this statement with statistics, but it did not seem to be as effective as previous seasons. There was a period during the early summer when I was having great success with size 14 stimulators, and then in late summer and early fall the Charlie Boy hopper surprised me with its effectiveness.

Closer Top View

Despite these deviations in performance, I remain an enthusiastic proponent of tying a Chernobyl ant to my line, and I will continue to do so frequently in 2015. For this reason I sat down at my vice over the weekend and churned out 15 new Chernobyl ants. In addition I refurbished three more that resided in my broken fly canister. I cut the black foam strip to a point and then tied the arrow point to the shank of the hook and then folded it over the top. For legs I used primarily barred sexi legs, and I cut them to 1/4 – 1/2 inch in length. I discovered that the longer legs cause the fly to land upside down more often than desired.

Underneath

I’m anxious to toss a Chernobyl ant on flowing water in 2015 because that will mean that milder weather has arrived, and fish are looking toward the surface for their meal.

The Ants Go Marching