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Feb 24 2010

Chubby Chernobyl

A 'floatie' that catches fish too.
A 'floatie' that catches fish too.

One of our go-to flies at Chile West is the Chubby Chernobyl by Idylwilde.

Depending on the color and size that you’re fishing, this giant dry fly might imitate an ant or a Cantaria beetle or a stonefly.  We catch a lot of trout on Chubby Chernobyls, but we also love them as the dry in a dry-dropper rig (or dry-dropper-dropper or dry-dropper-dropper-dropper…).

Here’s why the ‘Chubby’ works so well in these combo rigs–

  • It’s got enough foam that it floats really well, even when it’s weighted down with multiple nymphs and/or tungsten head nymphs.
  • The dubbed body underneath the foam means that it looks good from below (apparently; it catches a lot of fish).
  • The mega poly wings on top mean that, dressed properly, you can see this thing from the next county.

Speaking of dressing the Chubby Chernobyl properly, here’s a video about how to do just that!

If you’re reading this in a newsletter or a reader, click here to see the video on YouTube.

The big takeaway from the video is that after you apply floatant to the poly wing, comb it out!

So yeah…catches fish, floats great, easy to see…kind of sounds like the ultimate dry for a dry/dropper rig, doesn’t it?

Here our Product Review Policy and FTC Disclosure.

More Trout Gear We Like

  • Sage 5110-4 Z-Axis
  • Ross Evolution LT
  • Sage Click Reels

Filed Under: Chile, Gear Tagged With: dry flies, Idylwilde

Reader Interactions

Trackbacks

  1. Chubby Chernobyl in Purple says:
    April 21, 2010 at 10:31 am

    […] More on the Chubby Chernobyl, with Video! […]

  2. Cantaria Beetle Video says:
    June 20, 2010 at 6:05 am

    […] Chubby Chernobyl […]

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