Midges? Help me identify

bjkaledas

bjkaledas

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Sep 12, 2006
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I was out at Spring Creek by Fisherman's Paradise on Saturday and there was a significant BWO hatch and there was something else in the air that I am not familiar with. There were quite a few of them and knowing that midges hatch all year round and would probably be the only other bug out there, I am assuming that they were midges. I was able to get a quick look and they seemed to be grey and sort of shaped like a barbell. The front was a round ball and the butt end was a ball shape. Anybody have pictures or midge information in general?

BJ
 
BJ,

Could they have been winged ants? Did you capture any amd look at them up close?
 
Sounds to me like a flying ant as Maurice said.

Here is a pic of a midge...

midge.jpg
 
Black Flies?

http://www.epa.gov/bioindicators/html/blackflies.html
 
And here is a pic of a flying ant.
ant_flying.jpg


I had a very memorable day on Muddy Creek when flying ants were landing on the water. There were big slicks of them. I used a "normal" (unwinged) ant pattern. I did rather well (I thought) and had a great time despite all the ants crawling on me and up my clothes. YUCK :p
 
sounds like small gray midges to me - one clue that tells a lot, is the fact that midges have no tails.
I have never seen flying ants this late in the year
 
When it comes to bugs that small, size and color are the most important consideration then body shape. If you can match those then you are on your way to some very good fishing.
Caught on tape. BWO's (baetis) swim to the bottom to lay their eggs, then drift up to the film and float there after they die. This is why you sometimes don't catch fish during a BWO hatch, the fish are taking the spent spinners under the surface film and not the hatching insects. A good thing to try is to use a tandum rig that has a BWO dry as a point and the sunken spinner as the dropper.
I don't think that flying ants would be out this time of the year despite the weather we've had, in fact I haven't seen an ant lately either. But midges are present and if you were seeing midges in the egg laying stage they could have looked like little dumbbells. You can't see it in the photo, but most midges have a head slightly larger than the body.
 
Thanks for replying guys! They didn't look like that midge picture and maybe they were flying ants. I wonder what else could have been flying around this type of year?

At any rate, that midge looks like it would be pretty easy to identify as the wings appear to lay down the body. I saw some of these also that were landing on my legs, but the wings were in a "V" shape.

BJ
 
Also, what is a good pattern for a midge dry fly? I have been using zebra midges on Spring Creek size 24-28 and they have been working well.
 
At my home creek: Lycoming, I often see small (size 26-30) barrbell shaped flies that are a deep olive color. However, this is in the middle of summer. I have never identified the insects or even know if thay hatch out of the stream. instead of trying to classify the fly, I just went home the first night I experienced these bugs and tied something similar on a size 20 hook (one ball of olive dubbing, sparse hackle int he middle, another ball of dubbing, and a sparse poly wing). The next night it worked.
Which brings me to another point. Just because you see flying bugs, doesn't mean thay are aquatic insects. there are a lot of bugs out this time of year.
 
Very, very good point and why that didn't cross my mind I don't know. I will take that idea and run with it I think.

BJ
 
BJ-

Flies look different in the air than when you catch one and examine it closely.
Many times I have caught midges that looked gray when flying, but after catching one, it turned out to be more black colored.
Same thing with their shape also.
As for pattern, as Chaz stated, when you are fishing that small, I'm not sure how much it matters. As long as you are the right size and general color, it should work.
I tie my gray midges in #26 and #28 with 2 tiny dun hackle tips for wings - tied straight back along the hook shank like a caddis.
And then just a few turns with a tiny dun hackle. But I'm probably being a little more fussy that I need to be
 
What shade of dun do you use? I have light and dark. The dark is what I use for my BWOs.
 
Whenever I have seen midges on the top of the water, they always seem to clump together. I have had more luck with a slightly larger size then the individual bugs.

http://www.virtualflybox.com/patterns/pattern.php?id=623

It doesn't get any easier to tie then this. But this is from someone who would raher not fish midges.
 
BJ-

I use a dark dun neck, but, I don't think that shade is that important on such tiny flies. Since you have both, I would suggest tying a few with each shade, and I bet that when your done, you'll have a hard time telling the difference between them.
 
I know this is a heresy to someone called ”dryflyguy” but often times a midge pupa pattern works as well or better than a dry midge pattern, and it’s easier to tie. The midge pupa is as simple as using your tying thread for the body, in the appropriate color, and a finishing with a little dubbing fur near the head. No need to find and tie small hackle or wings. Nearly any tier can tie midges this way. I usually use small (size 20 and smaller) scud / pupa hooks for this pattern, like TMC 2457. They have a wider gap for better hooking in small sizes and have a curved shank. A slightly curved body looks more realistic to me, and the fish seem to like it. No need to tie 20-22-24-26-28…I tie 20’s – 24’s – 28’s….. The difference in sizes is so small that I skip the hook sizes in between. If you think that it makes a difference than tie the pattern a little shorter to tie the next smaller hook size.

The pupa sits in the film and can’t be seen. To fish it in calm water I grease the leader and tippet leaving the last 12” ungreased, and watch the floating tippet for a strike. In riffled water I put a pinch of strike putty on the tippet knot and watch that to see the strike. Sometimes I tie on a visible dry fly on as an indicator, but watch out for the dry drifting in another current lane from the midge. You must keep them in line or the dry will drag the midge and ruin the presentation. I'm sitting here at the computer waiting for it to warm up a little before I go fishin', hoping to get into some midge action. Wish me luck.
 
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