What midge patterns are in your box?

[JustFish]

I love the zebra midge and have been tying a lot with glass bead heads. Also have been tying a bunch with stripped peacock herl that have really been kicking some serious butt. I tie from size 20-28.

 

[Padraic]

I hate fishing midges, but nearly as much as I hate tying them. I do however, have a few. I like to tye a midge that is a strand of floss doubled over in line with the shank. I tye it in behind the eye of the hook. Then I create a head with a few winds of peacock herl. I usually tye them in a size 18.

 

[MKern]

Assuming you are talking about subsurface patterns...

I use stripped peacock,

Midge tubing (various colors),

Thread midges (various colors),

and occassionally a zebra midge in black or red -- gold bead and wire.

 

[jayL]

1. Thread on a hook

2. Thread on a hook with a bead

3. Thread on a hook with poly wings

4. Thread on a hook with wire

5. Thread on a hook with a tuft of dubbing or herl.

6. Wire on a hook.

Any combination of the above. I prefer the zebra midge or al's rat type flies.


Do you find the stripped herl flies to be durable at all? Do you take any measures to make them more so?

 

[chstrcntyfish]

I've been going with the thread on a hook aproach too. I mix it up with red, black, brown, white, and olive. Sometimes i'll throw some dubbing on there just to make it look good(to me). Also I tie some with a pearl glass bead and black thread ribbed with white thread. I don't really fish them though, I just tied a bunch incase I ever needed them.

 

[MKern]

JayL wrote:
Do you find the stripped herl flies to be durable at all? Do you take any measures to make them more so?

For me they aren't the most durable flies in my box, but I do give them a quick brush of head cement (I have one of those applicator bottles, so when a little bubble forms I just wipe it down the back of the fly; sometimes it need distributed beeter or some removed, for this I use a bodkin).

However, if a fish happens to bite through, they are very easy to repair or at least salvage the hook.

 

[MKern]

JayL reminded me: I use wire midges too -- like brassies. Uni wire is the best for these, it comes in tons of colors. I use wine, cream, red, olive, black, blue, and probably more I just can't think of them right now.

 

[JustFish]

MKern wrote:

JayL wrote:
Do you find the stripped herl flies to be durable at all? Do you take any measures to make them more so?

To be honest they aren't as durable as I would like them to be. However, I will first tie in a piece of wire usually green or I'll use a piece of 8x tippet before the stripped herl is tied in. I then tie in a dubbing head. I usually like to use muskrat. I will then cement from the muskrat to the end of my body. Obviously not the muskrat.

It seems like a lot of guys do not like to fish midges. Is that b/c they're too small? It is a fact that there are midges in just about every body of water you will fish. It has been my most all around productive fly all year round. But hey, it's all about what you have confidence in. I'll do darn near anything to catch a fish from dries-emergers-nymphs and my favorite.....midges!

 

[JustFish]

I was referring to subsurface. Sorry for not previously stating that.

 

[jpb5002]

#16 olive zebra is my favorite fly for winter fishing. I also like the red. Have heard that black are good, but never have fished them much.

 

[mute]

Zebra midge, als rat are my top producers, dont get many on brassies.

 

[jayL]

I only ever fished a brassie once and I caught a handful of fish. Why I never tried them again is beyond me.

 

[Philly]

I use three or four dry patterns. One with a CDC Body and CDC Wing. One with a satin cord body, wire rib and a CDC wing. These two I tie from size 20 down to an occasional size 32. Tied on TMC 2488. The rest I tie on, I think, the TMC 101. Size 20 to 24. These have a thread body and a clump of snowshoe or CDC tied in the middle. I downsize the Usual to a size 20.
Subsurface. I use soft hackle BH PT Nymphs and Hare's Ear's size 20 to 26, or Green Weenies with a black beadhead, size 20 to 26

 

[skiltonian]

first one is mainly midges and I usually bring the other just in case.

 

[David]

I used to not only fish midges regularly, but sometimes prefered it when I was younger (and could see better.) I also lived in Mass. for a while and regularly fished the Swift river which was a heavily fished tailwater that absolutely required midge fishing (plus it was the only fishable water / hatch for most of the winter...which seemed to be any month other than July up there).
I tie in the 20-28 sizes with the 24-28 being the most predominant in the dries, but the 20-24s being the majority in the subsurface.
For the subsurface, I rarely used anything other than black, olive, cream, or red...black getting most of the air time.
The bodies either thread or sparse dubbing, but always with a ribbing (although, when tying small, I think the ribbing is more for me than the fish).
The head simply peacock or dark dubbing.

Funny side story: several years ago, I went to get an eye exam soley beause I couldn't see my midge drifts as well as I used to. They told me I had 20/20 vision.

 

[JustFish]

Philly,

Where do you get your size 32 hooks? I can't find them anywhere!

 

[sandfly]

Put a midge behind your nymphs, you'll be surprized how many fish you get, even up here in big fly country they work..

 

[JustFish]

sandfly wrote:
Put a midge behind your nymphs, you'll be surprized how many fish you get, even up here in big fly country they work..

Sandfly,

I have a lot of confidence in midges and use them a lot. I don't know how many people come up to me and ask me what I am using. When I show them people always say that is too small. When the fishing is slow midges always work for me. I have had 20-30 fish days on them.

 

[MKern]

Sandfly wrote: "Put a midge behind your nymphs, you'll be surprized how many fish you get, even up here in big fly country they work.."

In the movie series "Underwater World of Trout" almost every time he films a fish feeding under the surface it is on midge larva or pupa -- even the large fish.

It's proabably because they are so abundant and present in every season. However, even if the fish are keying in on cream midge pupa, I still firmly believe if you properly present any nymph, the fish will be inclined to strike. It doesn't make sense to pass up a couple of steaks for the same price as Sheetz or Wawa burgers.

 

[leadwing]

None! I can't tie anything that small and I never see them for sale anywhere, but maybe that's because they're too small!! Probably couldn't manage to get them on the leader anyway even if I had some. Why? Because they're too small! I'm kinda new to this, and fly fishing has enough unexplored territory for me that I figure I might leave midging alone for now. My arsenal is comprised of the Adams, Elk Hair Caddis, Hare's Ears and the Leadwing Coachman.