Zebra Midge

tomgamber

tomgamber

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Everyone loves this zebra midge...so I looked it up. I don'f fish midges much. Ok, which one looks like your zebra midge?

these are all called zebra midges...
 
They all are.

The fourth one looks like it was taken from Meck's site. That's the version I tie.

You can use a brass or silver bead. I find they both work in varying conditions. You can mix and match thread and rib colors, such as in the red one. I've heard of people using no thread, and just ribbing a hook for the same effect.

Wings can be added as well, as shown in two of the patterns.

For me, the most effective is the black, silver rib, silver bead. I tie it in sizes 16-22. 18 and 20 are most effective.
 
http://stevenojai.tripod.com/zebra_midge.htm

more variations.

They are all just ribbed thread bodied flies. Most of them are killer as well.
 
OK, so its basically a chironomid...I actually have some and have fished them then..no longer a mystery.
 
Yep. I prefer the beaded versions, as it looks like the air bubble hatching phase. Killer immediately before a hatch of midges if you have the right size and color.
 
its the top fly in my box and whenever i need a go to fly i just tie that on. I just wrap mine in thread with some wire and a brown bead. I use the gold bead on stockies, but the wilds like the darker bead better.
 
I tie both three and four. The red one gets a gold tungsten bead and the black one gets a black tungsten bead.
 
I have slaughtered fish on #3 tied in size 16-18. I also have something similar to #1 in my box.
 
I tie them in (thread/rib):

black/silver
white/black
yellow/black
red/silver
green/copper
grey/copper

They all work, especially in slow or shallow and clear water. I never use a bead, but thats just because I havn't bought any beads that small, haha. I typically tie them in #18, #20, #22.
 
Silver or silvered glass bead, black thread and silver rib in 20 to 22 is my go to midge. I also like to tie it as an emerger with a tuft of cdc or antron right behind the bead.

The brown thread and copper bead and rib does fine around BWO nymphs.

Around me the red one in 16 and 18 has been hot the last couple of winters. The little black caddis have been thick and their larvae are kind of reddish, orangish, yellowish and some claim the red Zebra midges do a good job imitating them. Not sure why they work, but they are worth a try.

One more. One of my hot soft hackles is the old William's Favorite which is a black thread body, silver rib, and starling hackle on a 19 Tiemco 102Y hook. Looks an awful lot like a soft hackle Zebra Midge.
 
I've never fished with zebra midges, but I think that they imitate a black midge.
I tie and used a very simple dry pattern for that hatch called a sewer fly. It's just black thread body with a tiny tuft of poly post for the wing. A tiny parachute hackle tied around the post is optional, but I don't think it's really needed on a fly that small.
I tie these in sizes #20 down to #32
 
Holy #OOPS#! size 32? i didnit think that existed.
 
Unlike santa, it doesn't eat the cookies that you left out as a kid.

wait a minute...

dad!?! what the hell are you eating those for?


Either way, I've never gone lower than 26. I don't think I'd be able to.
 
Tiemco came out with #32 hooks 6-7 years ago. But I do admit that you have to be pretty fanatic to tie and use something that small
When I first bought them, I had doubts that I could really catch a fish on them.
But they do work.
I don't use them very often though. Once in while, when I find smutters that refuse everything else down to #28, I'll turn to them, and sometimes they do the trick. Of course, sometimes they refuse them also, and I just admit to myself that the fish won today, and move on!
 
The new size 32's are larger that they were in the past.
Mustad use to have a hook, size 32 that was about the size of .5 lead from a mechanical pencil with about one click long.
Hille's has a chart of all the original mustad hooks.
 
For tying really small flies (< #24) I suggest using the TMC 2487. It’s fine wire with a 3x wide hook gape in the smaller sizes, and is 2x short. The wide gape makes it easier to tie and better at holding on to fish. They make it down to a size #30, and 2x short makes it equivalent to a #32 hook shank length. Good luck.
 
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