Midges...no, *seriously*...midges

Six-Gun

Six-Gun

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Jul 30, 2013
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I've always heard that winter time is midge time, and a recent trip to California taught me about this concept in striking, Technicolor fashion. I'm going to admit that looking at a tiny midge when I went to cast into the Owens River near Bishop, CA last weekend, the first thought that came to mind was, "there is no way in hell a fish can see this itty-bitty thing in a river flow." Well, fellow new guys, they can. Not only can they see them, they will outright come flying over to grab them if the water temps aren't too cold.

For the first part of this trip, I insisted on running standard #10 - #14 nymphs - prince, stonefly, etc. - under an indicator. Couldn't get a hit to save my life, even with fish popping the surface during a feed. Even with no indicator. Even with 6x tippet. Next thing you know, I'm finally giving in against my instincts and tying on a #18 midge pattern that I tied in the Bass Pro fly tying class a few months back. I got a strike on the 3rd cast. The guy I was with was slaying them a few different combinations of green body patterns. These fish wouldn't touch larger patterns of anything, but the size 18 - 22 midges were performing.

Lessons of the day: 1) it's not about what YOU think looks good, it's what looks good to the fish and 2) a hungry trout will absolutely spot a midge he's keyed in on in fairly swift water.
 
Ha ha this is a good post. I almost never fish midges, but since getting similar advice from a few different sources, I've tied up a bunch of size 18 and 20 midge patterns - zebra midges, tiny pheasant tails, etc. I'm planning to fish them when I get some time and this cold snap let's up a little. I haven't tried tying any green midges... Mine are all black, brown, olive, or red. Are we talking green like caddis green? Or green like olive green?
 
I was on the Tulpehocken this summer. I don't remember what I was fishing, probably a variety of everything I had. I couldn't catch a thing. Some guy was right behind me. He would watch me until I moved, then fish where I just was. Every time I looked over at him he was catching another one. Probably like 10 in an hour.

I guess he finally couldn't take the pain of watching me anymore and he yelled over to me to try a zebra midge. I was still very new at that point, and replied I didn't have any. He came over to me and gave me 3 or 4 brown zebra midges. I thanked him, tied one on, and finally caught something.
 
I recently tied a bunch of midges up but have never fished one yet. Now I cant wait to get out and fish them. Gotta love how a years worth can be stored in a small travel aspirin tube
 
jeremymcon wrote:
Ha ha this is a good post. I almost never fish midges, but since getting similar advice from a few different sources, I've tied up a bunch of size 18 and 20 midge patterns - zebra midges, tiny pheasant tails, etc. I'm planning to fish them when I get some time and this cold snap let's up a little. I haven't tried tying any green midges... Mine are all black, brown, olive, or red. Are we talking green like caddis green? Or green like olive green?
Click to expand...

I don't even know what these really are. Simple, olive green dubbed body with a dubbed black head. That's it. No fancy tying features of any kind: no rib, no wing, no rubber legs. Nada.
 
Great post... I love fishing midges because of the challenge and the almost "absurd" expectation of catching a fish on such a small bug. When I lived in boston (winter 10 months out of the year) and bottom release dams were the way to go... midging was the only real answer. Not only do the see them, but they key in on them. Welcome to the world of the absurd!
 
This is a great subject. Although one I am not great at. I have been fishing midges for yrs. In our local limestoners. And still not all that good at it. But I just had to comment about phiends post. About a complet stranger stepping up on a stream and handing him flies. That is one of the things that really make this sport great.

GenCon
 
Thanks for the replies. This was one of the biggest eye openers I've had since getting into this sport. The other big thing I took away from the trip I discussed in the original post is that in deep-pocket runs, you may still want to run a large, bead-head nymph as your first in a dropper rig with a nymph as the second. There were some rather deep (like 6' - 7') pools adjacent to some steep riffles and for a good while, we were sending flies over fish that we down really deep. A heavy nymph should help get the midge down deep quickly and also gives you a second menu item to present.

We also discovered that in some spots, even a heavy nymph wasn't enough to get the midge down fast and had to add in some spilt shot. Those fast waters will keep things suspended too long if you don't get really heavy and mend quickly after your line lands to buy the extra second or two for the setup to sink.

Also, I agree: the fact that a guy handed off a few flies to help another guy out speaks volumes about the good people still left in this world and the good people we have in this sport.
 
Well, in PA, size 18 is ENORMOUS for a midge. Many of our mayflies are size 18's!!!!

Many midges are like size 30's. And yes, some guys fish flies that small. Personally, I go down to about a size 26 and that's it. If they won't take that I'm going home!!!!
 
How do you tie a size 30? With a telescope?
 
personally I love midge fishing. on valley if there isn't any obvious hatch of BWO or caddis I go with a midge. I think trout are always willing to take one you just need to work them a little. that's why I think winter is easier to fish. not to catch them but you can usually figure out what they are eating after flipping over a few rocks.
 
A bit of advice on my midge success on VC. I have very little luck on top with midges, oh I catch a few but not nearly as many as I do on a dropper if they are midging. I was having no luck a week or so back and fish were taking flies off the surface. I had on a size 26 parachute but no joy. I then added a size 24 (2487 style which I think is 2x short) primrose BH zebra midge as a dropper off the bend. First cast to a fish that had refused my dry several times, and under goes the dry and bang I have him hooked. Three casts later to another first and same thing. Of course, after catching two they spoked up the rest of the pool and down they went.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it! :)

For those of you attending the Newbie Jam, I will be teaching a knot that Delta Dog taught me that allows you to add the dropper to the bend of the hook and remove it without having to retie a knot every time. Took him a long time to get it through my thick head to learn it but now that I got it I ask why it took him so long to teach it to me in the first place. :pint:
 
Foxgap239 wrote:
For those of you attending the Newbie Jam, I will be teaching a knot that Delta Dog taught me that allows you to add the dropper to the bend of the hook and remove it without having to retie a knot every time.
Click to expand...

And in case you forget, it's the knot in this video. ;-)


 
Heritage-Angler wrote:
Foxgap239 wrote:
For those of you attending the Newbie Jam, I will be teaching a knot that Delta Dog taught me that allows you to add the dropper to the bend of the hook and remove it without having to retie a knot every time.
Click to expand...

And in case you forget, it's the knot in this video. ;-)
Click to expand...

Thanks H-A, now no one has has reason to stop by my station at the Newbie Jam. My experience base has just been outed! :-(
 
I totally agree with Foxgap. Dropping a midge off the bend of any dry fly can be absolutely deadly! Whenever I suspect that fish are on midges or even when I have no clue what they are on (which can be the case a lot of the time), I like to drop a zebra midge, brassie or some other simple midge pupa pattern off the bend of a size 18 Griffiths Gnat. I use a fairly large GG because of visibility but a parachute pattern with a brightly colored post would also work great. Whenever I fish with this system it seems like I catch about 90% of the fish on the dropper.

When they come up and inspect that GG and offer you a classic refusal that leaves you milli-seconds away from pulling the trigger on the hook set that almost was. Stay focused the game has just begun! Keep keying on the dry fly and as the fish completely refuses the dry fly many times they just can't resist that midge right there on their nose. Watch for any unnatural movement of your indicator/dry fly. Lift the rod tip and it is game on!

There usually is nothing to lose (but often much to gain) by dropping one of these types of patterns off of dry while fishing it.
 
I've been dropping some copper johns both times out this year and have been getting good results.

 
Thanks for the technique tips, fellas! now I have some new methods to try next time out.

pcray1231 wrote:
Well, in PA, size 18 is ENORMOUS for a midge. Many of our mayflies are size 18's!!!!

Many midges are like size 30's. And yes, some guys fish flies that small. Personally, I go down to about a size 26 and that's it. If they won't take that I'm going home!!!!
Click to expand...

pcray -

The midge I tied on in a size 18 was really due to the fact that this was from a beginner fly tying class and they usually stick to larger patterns to keep life easy for the students. Otherwise, yes, we have lots of very small midges flowing through our stream out here, too.
 
Hey Foxgap, sorry that H-A stole your thunder but that is a really cool knot! I'm sure you will have ample opportunity to "share and show" at the upcoming jam. Tying a clinch knot off the bend of a hook can be a royal PITA, particularly when tying off of a pattern like a CDC & elk where the CDC fibers are constantly getting caught up in the wraps of the clinch knot. This knot absolutely solves that problem. Good stuff!
 
dc410 wrote:
Hey Foxgap, sorry that H-A stole your thunder but that is a really cool knot! I'm sure you will have ample opportunity to "share and show" at the upcoming jam. Tying a clinch knot off the bend of a hook can be a royal PITA, particularly when tying off of a pattern like a CDC & elk where the CDC fibers are constantly getting caught up in the wraps of the clinch knot. Your knot absolutely solves that problem. Good stuff!
Click to expand...

Thanks but I can't take credit for that one. Delta Dog had been using it for months and telling me I needed to use it and I kept tying my clinch knot like a dummy until one day he forced me to learn it. Now, like you, I'm saying.........kewl!

The one thing I came up with on my own though, is to keep an empty tippet spool with the elastic band and when I take the dropper off, I simply open the loop enough to fit the spool, tighten down, wrap the line and fly around the spool and use the elastic to keep it in place. I love it because I can keep multiple droppers with differnt flies to try.
 
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