Midge Patterns

[jfinn 0]

Interested in hearing what everyones favorite midge pattern and color combination is for trout? I started using a Frickin' Red Midge as a dropper this season and was happy with the results.

[flytire 0]

overall, this has been my best producer

 

 

more here on my page at hans weilenmanns website

 

http://flytierspage.com/nfrechette/nfrechette.htm

[Dave G. 0]

For me it's the Chironamid emerger much as seen in the old Orvis Fly Tying Guide book. It looks like flytire's photo in reverse ( black body tan or white or silver rib ) as the basic body but has a few strands of antron yarn peaking out each end. Additionally, I tie them a bit more fluffed up than his and may even tie in a round of peacock herl at the head ( that's my own addition). Only because these best simulate our local midges, not because the pattern is above all other midge patterns mind you !! It's funny , I was at a pond locally and saw for the first time in my experience locally some watery pale olive midges. Not sure the macro function on my zoom lens will get a good shot of one of my Chironamids, as it only goes down to 2/1 macro and the flies are small. My big ones are size 18 though, I may try later today.. This time of year the local ponds usually turn the trout on with these little guys. That and Griffiths Gnats will land 20" fish sometimes. This is a slow year to get started on midges, there have not been a lot of them around as yet. By now the midges are usually in full swing and will hold like that till after Thanksgiving. But still waiting for the major turn on this year. When they turn on they are in clusters on the water, that's when the gnat can be good, a size 16 Griffiths Gnat can simulate the rolling cluster of midges we get on the water surface here at times. I'm sure other places experience the same thing or I wouldn't have read about it 25 years ago LOL !!

 

I have caught some really nice sized rainbows this fall on patterns that cross between being herring or smelt patterns ( it's a generic bucktail or synthetic streamer pattern), in a pond with herring in them, which now I think the herring may have started out of the pond headed to the sea. I was lucky to get out a few times before this occured.

[planettrout 0]

I tie a lot of Midge patterns and most frequently use them on tailwaters in the Eastern Sierras including the Lower Owens River and the East Walker River. Like flytire, my most consistent producer has been a simple midge larva pattern - Cream Miracle Midge - in #18 - #22 tied on a Daiichi 1130 hook:

 

 

In Winter and late Spring, over the past several seasons, this pattern, tied on a Mustard C49s hook, #18 - #20 - has taken a lot of nice Trout for me and my two fly fishing kids:

 

 

 

Palinista...

 

Here are a few I am working on now for the Lower Owens, along with two Baetis patterns...the recipes and additional information is completed...10.25.15

 

https://planettrout.wordpress.com/2015/10/25/fall-owens-gourmet-gambit-ten-midges-two-bwos/

 

 

PT/TB

[RogueFlies 0]

This one never fails to produce fish for me, it's also a lot of fun to tie. I believe it's called the ugly baetis

[carpflyguy 0]

Zebra midges in 20-24

 

CDC dry midges in 26-32

 

WD40 in 24-32

[Philly 0]

These are the two that I have my best luck with. They work as a dry and as an emerger.

 

 

 

Don't really fish midge pupa a lot.

[NohackleHS 0]

My most consistent midge has been the Zebra Midge. Most anglers who fish my home stream (Putah Creek) suggest flies in sizes 20 and 22. However, for me, these flies have not had enough hooking power. A local guide suggested that I tie my flies on a TMC 3769 size 16 hook. The resultant fly is about a size 18 but has the hooking power of a size 16. The larger hook gap has really seemed to help me land more big fish. I also tie the fly with a 2.3 mm tungsten bead (either black or nickel). My home stream has a lot of deep water and the tungsten bead helps get the fly down to the level of the fish.

[Jaydub 0]

It depends on if it's a stream or stillwater. In my experience, Stillwater midges tend to be larger.

 

Streams:

Larva/pupa: Zebra midge

Adult: Griffith's Gnat, Sprout midge, ARF midge adult

 

Stillwater:

Larva: Bloodworm midge

Pupa: Chromie, TDC, Ice cream cone in black, red and green

Adult: California Mosquito, Shuttlecock, Racoon

[Dave G. 0]

For lakes this is the basic fly I use in our local midge hatches and they can be good sized around here. Some ponds an 18 will do nicely, others might take a 24. I don't use the Unistretch but just Danville black thread or UTC. I may use a tiny touch of black rabbit dubbing and I generally do not use the wing at all. Otherwise it's the same fly. I may look into that Unistretch :

https://youtu.be/wQ4JIYVksWA

[kennebec12 0]

For the places I fish it's all about the time year, sure some patterns work okay all year, but the right pattern at the right time works better. In the spring my best luck is a few pieces of chartreuse midge flash as a tail, a black thread body with a single strand of the tail material as a rib, and a couple of white neck hackle fibbets as a wing, I usually tie this in sizes 26-20 or a double fly (one forwards one backwards on one hook) on a 16. Later in the summer I do well with a copper wire body and a couple turns of peacock herl as a thorax in sizes 22-18, I pulled a voltage coil out of an old electronic and the copper wire is incredibly fine which I find works best, and the other is simply tapered olive dubbing in sizes 26-20. In the fall I tend to use bright colored thread bodies (yellow, fl. orange, fl. pink) with a couple turns of contrasting ostrich herl in sizes 20-18, but I more likely will be fishing streamers than midges in September unless they are being finicky. As far as decent patterns in any any season, I use zebra midges (some tied with thread, some with quills, and some with fine wire), and hi-vis griffiths gnats (I just add a post of fl. orange bucktail about 1/3 hooks length from the eye).