Overview

The Chubby Chernobyl is a foam attractor dry that dates to the early 2000s and has become one of the most fished dry flies in the West. It has a thick foam body, rubber legs and a pair of white wings, and it floats like a cork.

Depending on color and size, trout take it for a salmonfly, golden stone, hopper or other big terrestrial, and it also works as a general attractor when nothing is hatching. The white wings make it easy to see in rough water, and the foam keeps it riding high even with a heavy tungsten nymph hanging from the bend. That combination of visibility and float is why so many guides use it as the top fly in a dry-dropper rig.

How to Fish It

• Dry-dropper: tie 18 to 36 inches of tippet to the bend and add a bead-head or tungsten nymph. The Chubby floats it and acts as your strike indicator.
• Bank shots: slap it down tight to grassy banks, undercuts and boulders in summer, when hoppers and stoneflies are on the water.
• Twitch it: a small twitch makes the legs kick and can trigger a strike from a fish that is following.
• Keep it fishing: treat it with floatant and brush matted wings back out so they stay visible.

Choosing Color and Size

Gold and Black-Tan are natural choices for golden stones and hoppers. Olive covers Skwala stones and olive hoppers, Purple is a proven attractor color, and Black gives a strong silhouette and suggests crickets, beetles and dark stoneflies.

Use sizes 8 and 10 during big stonefly hatches and when you need to float a heavy dropper, 12 and 14 for hoppers and all-around searching, and 16 for smaller water or picky fish. Not every color comes in every size, so check the options.