Zebra midges: what am I doing wrong

[sipe]

So...I repeatedly hear that zebra midges are a great winter pattern. Yet, I've not had much luck fishing them. To be fair, I've often fished them BELOW my heavier fly tied off the eye, and maybe that is a problem? I generally fish them in size 20. I've tried red, olive, black...mostly black. What am I doing wrong?

If you can pass along any midge fishing hints, I'd be appreciative. Thanks.

 

[lv2nymph]

I wonder, have you fished them enough without success that you're now just tossing them and not expecting much? I fish my zebras and other smaller flies as you do and tied off the bend of a heavier fly to get it down to the bottom. I cant buy a fish with a green weenie ( I know, most of you cant see why). How long of a dropper do you normally tie on? The take of a smaller fly under a heavier fly can be quick and hard to detect, your line must be tight and inline to your indicator. I'm not trying to say you don't know what you're doing but without being on stream with you to have a look see at what's happening trouble shooting can be sketchy. Perhaps a little more insight as how you're going about things could shed some light on the subject.

 

[dryflyguy]

My first guess would be that maybe you should tie them smaller.
I don't tie zebra midges - but I have caught many fish on black midge dry fly patterns. And I'm talking size #24 - #28, and occasionally I'll even go down to #32
Once you see them hatching, then you'll know how small they are.

 

[lv2nymph]

Most of the time my small droppers are 18's and they work very well all year not just in the winter. I'm not a midge fisherman per se, heck I tie my 18's on with 4x. 20's for droppers is usually as small as I go. It's hard getting 4x in them tiny little eyes.

 

[dryflyguy]

Midges on 4x? Yikes!
By the way, most of my midge (dry fly) fishing is on spring creek

 

[lv2nymph]

Most of my zebra style flies I fish are on spring creek as well. I took some lines out of my other post because I'm mainly thinking fishing 18's & 20's.

 

[dryflyguy]

lv2nymph wrote:
Most of my zebra style flies I fish are on spring creek as well. I took some lines out of my other post because I'm mainly thinking fishing 18's & 20's.

Well - we're obviously trying to compare nymphing and dry fly fishing here I think.
But IMO, when spring creek fish are taking midges on top - 18's and 20's ain't cutting it.

 

[turkey]

Add me to the "zebra midges on Spring Ck" list. 18s and 20s mostly in olive, black, and in the winter I like red. Like L2N, I usually tie them off the bend of a weighted nymph. I've had good luck with them on most limestone influenced streams I've fished.

DFG, I have a handful of cream colored dry flies in 24 and 26 that I carry for Spring. Its a small miracle if I catch a fish with them though because they're so hard to see.

 

[sipe]

Yes, I was mostly talking about nymphing. Maybe it's a confidence thing, maybe I'm missing hits. I try to tight line where streams are washable enough to get me close, I slip a thingamabobber on/off as needed. Perhaps tying off the bend creates too much slack between anchor fly and midge?? I usually allow about 14" below anchor fly. Also, are midge nymphs like the zebra only effective on spring or limestone influenced creeks? I pounded the codorus a few weeks ago and got the skunk...always had a midge dropper below a bead head frenchie or similar.

 

[lv2nymph]

Sipe, have you tried using a dropper tag? Your dropper length is good I think, I think you're right about too much slack to the smaller fly and that could be caused by drifting under an indicator. I'm not saying indicator fishing isn't effective I think it is and I use them too, but high sticking/tight lining keeps you in much better contact with the point fly than does an indicator. I think a dropper tag would put you in better contact with the zebra. DFG I'd love to watch you fish a midge hatch, whenever I encounter that I just move on.

 

[whheff]

They have to be dead drifted as much as possible. Size 20 or 22 are good sizes to fish. I usually fish them alone on 6x tippet with some weight about 6 to 8 inches above the fly. I then do a lot of upstream mending to try and get a natural drift. If I know the depth of the stream, I will put an indicator on so that the weight gets the fly to the bottom but the indicator holds if just off the bottom.
When you get ready to cast again, bring the line in slowly so the midge looks like it is rising. You get a lot of takes when you do this.
Bill

 

[afishinado]

sipe wrote:
So...I repeatedly hear that zebra midges are a great winter pattern. Yet, I've not had much luck fishing them. To be fair, I've often fished them BELOW my heavier fly tied off the eye, and maybe that is a problem? I generally fish them in size 20. I've tried red, olive, black...mostly black. What am I doing wrong?

If you can pass along any midge fishing hints, I'd be appreciative. Thanks.

Zebras are a great winter fly, but don't expect miracles. The fish are very sluggish in cold water.

Many times, in the winter, the fish a hold up deep in the slower pools and are lethargic. You need to get the fly right in their face for them to hit. Not always that easy.

Finally, strike detection is tough since they often hit very lightly in colder water. And the more weight you must add to the tippet to get down deep, the harder strikes are to detect.

A lot of things against you fishing in the cold, but it's great to get out anyway.

 

[Dale49]

Zebras are good but in my humble opinion and based on my experiences the midge patterns listed in Holbrook and Koch's Midge Magic are even better.

 

[MKern]

I have never had a ton of luck with zebras either.

I prefer a vinyl tubing body, or a peacock quill body. Sometimes I find an all wire body produces too.

 

[marcq]

zebras are great flies but that also have their time and place. if you are fishing now your problem might be its really cold out and most of the streams are in the upper 30's and low 40's. fish are sluggish. this is a good time to fish them but you have to put it right on the fishes face. I usually only fish them if I can see fish in a deep pool stacked up or in a spot where I know there is fish. I rarely use them as a searching pattern. i also fish them all the way down to a 24 never go above 20. lots of weight. i don't use weighted flies just shot. enough to get to the bottom then high stick it just above it. there is usually a foot of fly line out at the most and my drifts are real short.

 

[OldLefty]

Try fishing one fly only and using shot to get depth. I'm one of the oddballs who fish one nymph at a time for the vast majority of my nymph fishing.

 

[SBecker]

WHAT!? ONE NYMPH!?! What is wrong with you? How can you get doubles that way!?! ;-)

I have begun to learn the benefits of one nymph in complex water columns.

Dave, I think it would be beneficial for many on here, if you would explain why you choose to use one at a time. I know I would like to hear.

 

[jkilroy]

For fishing the mighty zebra, I either fish it by its self 18" down from a white pinch on indi, or as a upper dropper when using a 2 fly tight line rig. I use 6x Tippet and my zebras have 2.0 tungsten bead and .010 lead to get it down. In my experience in the winter I wouldn't bother tying one on unless the fish are sipping on midges. They work great on Clark's, spring creek and many other streams around here. They are in the creeks all year around.

 

[johnstevens5462]

Midges typically do not work well as a prospecting fly, especially in cold freestone streams. There is no incentive for a trout to move to take something that small. So your approach of blind casting and hanging the fly from a float, which puts the fly mid current, is working against you. In a freestone stream at this time of year trout are holding on the bottom and if feeding are probably feeding on the bottom. Your lack of success appears to have more to do with you fishing your fly where the fish aren't rather than fly selection.

Get rid of the indicator and as oldlefty suggested, fish a single fly. I fish a single fly for several reasons the main one is with one fly I am concentrating on working that one fly effectively. I think when people fish multiple flies they get lazy and rather than fishing one fly effectively they fish two or three flies ineffectively.

Next, add some weight to get the fly down and shorten your cast and keep light tension on the line. Watch the leader end where it goes under for any sudden or unnatural movement. Fish specific small sections of stream don't fish forty foot drifts. You may think you are covering more water and increasing your odds by one long drift but you are not. Work that forty foot section in ten four foot increments. No matter what time of year, as afish stated, with midge fishing you've got to hit the trout with the fly for them to take you just can't drift it close to them and expect them to move for it. The reason is when midges are on, there are millions and millions of them so the trout pick a spot and let the current deliver them food - no need to move. If the midges aren't on, a trout isn't going to move substantially for something so small unless the stream you are fishing has very little food sources. So in either instance, you've got to hit the trout with your fly.

Personally in winter I prefer to use a streamer to prospect or a larger nymph to dredge the bottom. All my midge fishing is done by sight fishing to a specific trout.

 

[Chaz]

I'm inclined to think that 4X for nymphing is a good thing, strikes are hard, fish can be quite large and you can land them quick, less likely to get broken because of abrasion.