New vs Standard and Extended body vs Classic

[salvelinusfontinalis]

I was wondering what you guys thought on the subject.

I have been fishing thestandard midges for years now. They work for me and I love them. The local fly shop has recently stopped getting these and now have these new parachute midge flies. Except the parachute is a white foam. I did get some and I belive them to be called a spooks midge. The name scares me ;-) I never tried these before in fear they will do what the name says;-) All kidding aside, do you guys have experince with these flies and was it positive. I really love the standard midge flies and need to get or tie some more.

Also I got a some BWO extended body flies. I figured these to maybe work on highly pressured trout over the classic pattern BWO. Thoughts?

 

[flyfishermanj]

Worth the try! I've fished the midge pattern before, sure is hard to find on the water at times, but caught a few fish before it got shredded.

JH

 

[dryflyguy]

If you're talking about small BWO's, I have doubts that an extended body would be any more effective than a regular fly.
I've only used extended bodies on large flies like march browns and green drake. Because of their long bodies, it makes sense to do that rather, than dubbing a 2, or 4Xlong hook.

 

[jayL]

I've been skeptical of those midges too. I don't think they'd spook the fish, because they see pieces of foam and debris floating by all the time, but I do question how easily a picky fish will take them.

 

[afishinado]

Sal,

Until now I never realized you didn't tie your own flies.........OMG!

Get a vise Dude! It adds a lot of satisfaction, challenge, and fun to the FF game, IMO. And in the long run, it saves money. You can never truly be considered a Trout Bum without tying your own flies. I think that’s a rule, if I’m not mistaken.

A thread midge is the simplest fly to tie. For dries: thread on the hook with a few CDC wisps for the wings. Pupa/larva: thread on a hook with a wisp of dubbing in front. Tie in colors and sizes to match the naturals. Also tie up a few Griffith’s Gnats (peacock herl body palmered with grizzly hackle) and you’re ready to go. There are more complicated patterns of course, but thread midges and gnats are often all you need

 

[MKern]

I fish what is called a cristo midge and it has a foam parachute, but it is trim just above where the hackle it wrapped. I usually tie mine with yellow foam. I think it works great, and the only way the fish would see it would be if it was upside-down. I use th foam for bouyancy, and not for visabilty like it was probably intended.

I agree that an extended body BWO seems odd, but I also can't say I wouldn't try it.

 

[JackM]

 

[ryguyfi]

I recently saw a pattern of a midge using ostrich herl... strip the herl leaving just the quill on 2-3 inches of the feather. Wrap the body with the quill and continue it with the actual feather. 1 feather continually wrapped to form 1 fly. I made a few of them but haven't tried them out yet. The herl is a good hackle size for small flies.


I'm just a fan of the griffiths gnat. Floats high and my most productive midge pattern.... easy tie too.

 

[harry]

The BWO extended bodies do make a difference. We fished the Provo 2 years ago during a heavy hatch and were doing more fishing than catching. A guide showed up with 2 clients and we let him fish one section and he saw we weren't hooking up much. We were fishing #16 -# 24 olives , standard and parachutes, he gave us 6 #22 extended bodies and it turned our day around. Have had success on the LL & Saucon with those patterns also...

 

[MKern]

ry,

the problem with ostrich is that once wet it is not longer stiff.
the patter would make a great midge pupa though -- stuck in the surface film.

 

[Fishinmagician]

I have seen these also but never used them,can't see why they wouldn't work.I guess every fly has it's purpose,I'll try anything once,you never know it could be a new go to fly.

tight lines,
Don

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

I do tie some. Just not as much as I should.Between the book, fishing all the time, the wife, the dog and life i just dont have as much time. But i do tie some ;-)

The extended bodies i got are about a size 20-22. They are small and the body isnt overly large. They look like a nice fly, thanks for the imput!

 

[jrcll]

a fellow out west gave me a few of those to use on depuys spring crk , he called them "dandelions" i never used them here in pa especially here in westrn pa

 

[MKern]

I too have used parasol midges. (I can't see certain pictures at work)
They really aren't a dry, but a nymph with a built-in indicator.

 

[bushwacker]

MKern wrote:
I too have used parasol midges. (I can't see certain pictures at work)
They really aren't a dry, but a nymph with a built-in indicator.

How are those parasol midges? Do they function any better than using a midge pupa with a small piece of indicator set 4" up the tippet?

 

[MKern]

I was refering to Jack's picture, where the poof is extended above the fly.

It does work, but I'd rather use a dry 8" up the leader.

 

[JustFish]

I bought some of the extended body hooks for tying. The flies really looked neat and they worked. The hooks however were English steel. I broke a couple off in the vice!! :-o I never had a hook break in half before. Although I heard that English steel isn't the best. They did catch fish though. :-D

 

[dryflyguy]

Justfish:

Are you talking about the Partridge extended body hooks?
I tried them years ago, and even though the fly looks good, the extended body tied on that hook extension is just too stiff IMO.
I've missed lots of fish on those flies, and didn't use them very long

 

[JustFish]

dryflyguy wrote:
Justfish:

Are you talking about the Partridge extended body hooks?
I tried them years ago, and even though the fly looks good, the extended body tied on that hook extension is just too stiff IMO.
I've missed lots of fish on those flies, and didn't use them very long

Yes they're the partridge, I have taken some stockies with them. They look neat....if they don't break in the vice! I think I bought two packs of them last summer. Don't get my wrong I wouldn't buy them again. I think the quality of steel sucks. They do look neat after you tie them.

 

[dryflyguy]

I never had any problems with them breaking.
Just lots of missed strikes. I used large ones for green drakes.
And I think that as the fish came up to take the fly, they were actually bumping that long stiff body upward, and not getting hooked well