There are a few different techniques guys are using these days to tie Chironomids. One of the more popular and more effective is when you lay down a base of thread and then tie in ASB or window tint for the body segments. You space the ASB or window tint out so that the thread underbody then becomes the ribbing or segmentation, taking the place of wire for the most part. Sometimes you can add a wire tracer in there, always XS, never S, as this over powers the intended style of segmentation. This is often referred to as “Iron Man” style as there is a fly under this name that made this technique popular.
The width of the ASB or window tint is critical. Too narrow and the thread is equal width or larger width than the ASB or window tint, thereby negating the effectiveness of the pattern and what you are trying to represent. Too wide and the thread doesn’t show through and you lose your segmentation.
Ee have spent a considerable amount of time dialing in. The width of our ASB and Window Tint here at the shop are:
Note: we call the widths 0.5, 0.75, 1.0 but they are actually proprietary sizing that we have experimented with to fit the different hooks perfectly and they are not quite that width.