troutracker

I interpret the frequent response of trout striking the Blue Wing Midge pattern as that the trout seem to accept that sunken adult midges have this sort of coloration.

To summarize what I have gleaned from reading up on the somewhat controversial subject: what we think we know about trout vision at present-- is that it appears that Wing Interference Patterns (WIPs) do occur in wavelengths of light that trout can detect and perceive as color. Note that WIPs are best viewed against a dark background because while the interference colors are vivid they are not bright. WIPs

To expand on the impact of WIPS on fly design: The recent discovery of WIPs (in 2011) makes the bright colors that we tiers have by trial and error added to flies—seen as pink hot spots, magenta hi-vis wings, blue abdomens and such—as colors that could be related to a natural phenomenon. Light waves passing through thin transparent membranes, like aquatic insect wings, can subtract or add to each other and produce a hybrid wave whose resulting wavelength our eyes see as a color or no color at all (cancel each other out). The exciting deal is that these hybrid colors may actually be "matching the hatch" for some insect families. The midge hatch in particular has a more colorful aspect than we previously thought justified. As of 2023, scientists have been identified WIPs in some 58 species of the midge (Diptera) family. So vibrant wing colors are widespread in midges and ultimately may prove to be characteristic of midges. Studies of other insect families are also finding WIPs. It seems any appropriately thin, transparent insect wing can potentially show WIPS—but depending on the wing thickness and light source may or may not be visible to the trout (or less importantly to us). So tie one on and see what the trout say. I know WIPs colors work well on the blue-wing midge (BWM) pattern fished as a dropper on a two-fly euro nymphing rig. But I expected the fly to look like trout food given the number of images of the naturally-occurring blue-wing midges I was able to compile from sources around the world—a few of which are shown in the BWM tying video.

Image shows a sunken adult midge Pattern, the Blue Wing Midge, tied to show WIPs-like colors. Since their discovery in 2011 (Shevtsova et al, 2011), Wing interference patterns (WIPs), which cause patches of vivid colors on midge wings, have been now identified in 58 species in the midge family (Shiyang et al., 2023; https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.96.111382) The Blue Wing Midge design also considers that sunken adult midges are becoming more important as fish food because pollution, including man-made surfactants, have a two-fold effect: increasing the proportion of midges in streams as well as causing an increased failed emergence because of reduced surface tension (Takamura, 1992; among others). For scale: Th total length of this fly from hook eye to the hook bend is about 7mm across. The tip of the vise jaws are about 3 mm across. Video explaining what WIPs are and their use in fly tying and fishing is posted at: https://youtu.be/uQhpxvoJ-fk A portion of a Diptera wing showing WIPs. Image credit: Грибков михаил, used under Creative Commons license 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Cannot seem to get the link to embed in the tying instructions above. For a video on the thinking behind the Gilly Caddis design-- See https://youtu.be/FdH8C_w94lc

Why tie a Gilly Gaddis? See https://youtu.be/FdH8C_w94lc Image Caption: Gilly caddis backlit by the setting sun -- A time when these larva commonly drift. Introduction Free-roaming larva from the Net-Spinners (Hydropsychidae) and Rock Worm (Rhyacophilidae) caddis families vary widely in how many gills line their abdomen—from none to a thicket of gills. The Gilly Caddis imitates those larva that have common gills. The Gilly Caddis imitates both these caddis families because they have a similar size, coloration, profile, life style as well as a dawn and dusk behavioral drift. The Gilly Caddis pattern is tied slim to help it sink to the stream bottom where the heavy beads near the hook eye make it tend to drift head down. The fly is tied using an "in the round" style—popularized by Charles Brooks in his 1976 book "Nymph Fishing..." This style makes a fly with a round symmetry that shows the same gilly abdomen look to the trout even if the fly is twisting on the leader as it bottom bounces downstream. Thus, a Gilly Caddis constantly projecting its fuzzy white underbelly as it fly drifts along signals a near-universal sign of vulnerability to predators-including trout. Besides behavioral drift, the life style of these caddis families also promotes catastrophic drift. Hydropsychidae dwell in net-covered retreats but are exposed to drift as they freely move about foraging on the rocks outside of that cover. They are also known to fight each other to occupy the same retreat which leads to the loser being forcibly ejected from the retreat and possibly on into the drift. Rhyacophilidae make no retreat at all and when foraging out in the open can likewise be swept away at anytime. In addition, scientific studies find that caddis larva can be washed into the drift during floods-- as well as during drought when they seek deeper water. And so on. The point is that the life activities of these caddis larvae along with their preferred fast flowing-water habitat promotes drift at any time. As such, caddis larva are an important fish food for the daytime fisherfolk to imitate without having to arrive early for the dawn behavioral drift or stay late for the one at dusk. Lengthwise, these caddis families overlap in the 12-18mm (1/2" - 3/4") range when mature (Hafele & Roederer, 1995, "Aquatic Insects..." Based on a Tiemco 206BL hook, this length translates to a size 10 -16. The 206BL is used because even a size 10 hook can to take 1.5mm beads (see note in recipe). This feature allows putting small diameter beads on the shank to imitate the thin dark thoracic plates and head found on the diminutive 1.5-3mm tube-like profile seen in the slimmer species of these caddis families. The ratio of thorax+head to abdomen length runs around 1/3 for Hydropsychidae to about 1/4 in Rhyacophila—which translates to using three 1.5mm beads on a size 10-12 hook and two beads on a 14-16. Coloration of these caddis families is often a shade of green: as expected for larva called "green rock worm." The green color varies from emerald to chartreuse on to olive. Also seen are brown, tan, cream or gray larva. Both caddis groups show a segmentation denoted by a color variation that can be combined with a variable diameter pearl-necklace looking segmentation. As always, screen your stream to see the caddis look that you need to imitate. Recipe Hook: Tiemco 206BL, size 10 to 16 Bead: Slotted black or nickel tungsten 1.5mm beads. Three beads on the size 10 and 12, and two beads on the size 14 through 16. On each bead, the slot is oriented towards the rear. NOTE: only some 1.5mm beads have a hole large enough to slide onto the hook. Beads from www.wholesaleflycompany usually do the trick Thread: Nano-Silk 30D to match abdomen chenille color Tail: About ten barbs from a white CDC puff feather Abdomen: Semperfli micro-fritz chenille in chartreuse, olive, brown or tan Gills: White CDC plume feather—its best if the stem nears 50mm (2") long. The length is needed because the stem thickens near its base & can mask the abdomen. The barbs are trimmed to about 2 mm length on both sides of the stem Ribbing: Small size wire; color to match abdomen or use a darker wire for a ribbing effect Assembly of the Abdomen: wind the chenille side by side forward to the last bead and cut off; then the trimmed CDC plume, followed by the ribbing, are wound forward in an open spiral and tied off at the last bead. Turn the hackle pliers as you wrap to keep the feather perpendicular to the abdomen Legs: The legs are made using say 10 barbs from a brown CDC puff. These barbs are placed between split threads, spread out a bit and spun into bit of a spiky yarn. Then wind the spiky thread forward between the beads and end up just behind the hook eye. Whip finish there. I like to leave the legs long to add action to the fly. Fishing the Gilly Caddis Both Hydropsychidae and Rhyacophila larva let loose of the bottom on a regular basis at dawn and dusk and drift along. Besides this behavioral drift, there are also man-made and natural causes leading to these larva to drift. For one, Hydropsychidae larva are known to fight over which one gets to use the a net-lined retreat. As the video clips in the Gilly Caddis video show, these fights lead to one of the larva being forceably expelled from the retreat and at that point could easily loose grip and drift away. I developed this fly for the Arkansas River where in the warmer months there can be 100's of rafts rubbing the bottom and the sides of boulders each day. This leads to catastrophic drift when these omnivorous free-living caddis, out grazing and hunting, are exposed to this rubbing, as well as having the entire net retreats along with housed caddis torn off the rock surface. Another man-made drift is produced by fisherfolks wading boots as they move across the bottom to fish. While walking on the bottom inadvertently leads to drift, intentional scuffing of the bottom to induce drift this is colloquially called the San Juan Shuffle. The point is that in many rivers, some caddis drifting is ongoing all day long—not just dawn and dusk. So I often use the Gilly Caddis both as a dropper and as a point fly --when fishing the fly on a rocky stream bed--because I use a bottom-bouncing presentation made with the rod held downstream low to the water surface. the off and on hang up of the point fly as it bounces downstream acts to pulse the leader up and down as well as dropper fly--in effect jigging it. This jigging presentation is particularly effective in the days before these caddis groups pupate--when the larva become notably more active. Of course, the larva become unavailable to trout once they start pupation. Both these caddis groups almost exclusively live in running water, so the Gilly Caddis is best fished in rocky riffles or at the current transition at head of a pool. On the Arkansas River, the Hydropsychidae caddis larva start to drift in the early spring (per Greg Felt, Ark Anglers) and in the later spring and early summer becomes very active and consequently drifting more just before it pupates. During the 3-5 weeks of pupation, the Hydropsychidae larva, glued to bottom, is almost inaccessible to trout. However, because the upper Arkansas River has hosts some 50 caddis species, the warmer months of the season almost always have a caddis species becoming more active pre-pupation. So, starting in early April, I often search for trout action with the Gilly caddis larva imitation in the mix of flies tried. Check your local hatch chart for when the targeted caddis hatch--the no-availability pupation time is usually 3-5 weeks before that-- and the active period somewhat even earlier than pupation. Given that 50 species of caddis have been identified from the Upper Arkansas, it pays to give a caddis larva fly a try during the warmer months what ever river you are fishing. Probably a good technique on any caddis-bearing river.

I appreciate your timely clarification. Thanks. I would point out that the motivation to tie and use a Midge-May be is mostly for design reasons beyond its frosted CPE wing--design reasons that are explained in the opening minutes of the video. That said, CPE (chlorinated polyethylene) is a relatively new polymer series that has improved rubbery elasticity and durability as well as far better weathering and ozone resistance when compared to the freezer bags, likely made of transparent polyethylene, that are used by A. K. Best for some of his midge wings I intentionally used frosted CPE, over transparent versions, because it has a whitish translucency like that seen in, or reflected from, from natural wings. Also, to me, is far easier to track a frosted white winged fly on the water than than a fly with a wing made of a transparent plastic. Further, trout do not seem to mind a white wing over a transparent one-- and a highly visible wing sure makes for fun fishing by being able to locate and then see your fly being taken by a trout.

That's what I have found as well. Like you say trout seem to really like these crossover patterns during the combo hatch period-- but I have also found it to be a good searching pattern over skittish fish in the 20-24 hook size. Thanks for the encouragement about adding the intent of design to my posts. While addressing the intent of the design takes a lot of time but its absolutely necessary this at this time of rapidly evolving fly tying concepts. I think that there are so many patterns out there that if you are going to propose a new design that you have to explain why existing designs do not cover the void that you are addressing. As you note, a plus is that in developing the science and observations that control the design it also leads directly to how to fish the new pattern and when.

I still cannot find an AK Best pattern like this. I spend a lot of time looking for similar patterns before I post, but could have missed it. I rechecked AK's books "A.K.'s Fly Box" (1996) and "Advanced Fly Tying" (2001) and still do not find a pattern like Midge-May Be. Best does show several midge adult patterns --but they are tied Catskill-like Style-- so fly sits cocked up on the water -- not flat lying like the Midge-May Be. This is a crucial difference because when I see midges on the film in nature they are typically lying low and parallel to the water surface. I also found a hatch magazine article on AK's favorite flies but do not see any similar pattern there: https://www.flytyer.com/fly-tyer-exclusive-k-s-favorite-flies/ I like to give credit when its due. So, can you help out here and tell me where the pattern you describe is published?

The Midge-May Be has been tested in streams and stillwaters throughout the Central Rockies and over the years has proven to be a widely useful attractor pattern. To fish it, I treat it with my favorite floatant (Cortland's silicone spray) and fish it on a dead drift using a two-foot long 6x -7x tippet knotted to the end of a 9-12 ft leader tapered to 5x.

Video on why and how to tie the Midge-May Be: https://youtu.be/qk5DegDRtnU A midge to Baetis crossover pattern with trident tails like seen on Baetis mayflies but tied with a downwing like a midge. The Midge-May Be has a body profile that suggests both insects--that is--- a segmented yet thin abdomen leading up to a leggy thorax. The fly also introduces a new wing material, CPE, that has a milky translucency like that seen on both naturals, yet is durable and tear-resistant. Besides being a crossover pattern that has features of two insect families, the Midge-May Be is also designed to lay flat down in a depression it makes on the water surface as well as dimpling the surface film--like the phantom midge does in the video. The Baetis-like tails are thought cross over to look like the legs of a midge--midges who hold their front legs out in front of them like antennas. The tail/legs are thought important to the flies performance is that the tails and palmered fly body press into the film, depressing it and, at the same time dimpling it. Depression and dimpling of the film is thought to be an early visual clue to a trout that food may be floating towards them. Recipe Hook: I use a wide-gape dry-fly hook. Like a Firehole 419 light wire 2x gape hook or a Tiemco 100 sp-bl heavy wire 1.5x gape hook. Hook Size: Because the Midge-May Be is a midge and Baetis mayfly crossover need hook that spans the size of both those insect families. In the Central Rockies, river-based midges roughly span a size from 18 on down. Baetis span a size range of about 16-24. The crossover is about size 20 but can be a size 18 in the spring when the hatching insects tend to be larger. In the Fall, If needed, I fish it in a size 22 or 24. I don't tie this fly below size 24, because such small hooks often require playing the fish to exhaustion to land it. Thread: Semperfli Nanosilk 20D black. I keep the body as thin as possible because midges and Baetis both have a thin abdomen tapering slightly up to a rounded leggy Thorax. I tie in the thread and wind it using side by side wraps back the hook bend where I lash in the tails. Tails: I cut off three straight hairs from patch of moose body, even the tips up, and lash them at the hook bend projecting out at a length equal to the hook shank. I then pass the thread between hairs and pull to flair them out into a trident-like array. The tails are important to this flies performance. First of all, the tails act as outriggers to help the fly land upright on the surface film as well as by adding flotation help keep the fly floating parallel to the water surface. Second, the tails suggest midge legs or Baetis tails-- a key crossover feature because while midges do not have tails-- many species hold their front legs out front of them in an antenna-like way. In any case, trout don't seem to care/know which end is which on a tiny fly, nor can they count the number of tails/legs so its not unreasonable to expect they could be taken either as tails or legs. Finally, the tails/legs are thought important to the flies performance in that the tails press into the film, depressing and dimpling it making an early clue to a trout that food may be floating towards them. The palmered hackle on the fly body, tied in next, adds to the dimpling effect. Body: Palmered grizzly hackle trimmed flat-- reverse Mohawk style -- so fly is lays flat and low down in a depression its made in the film --as well as further dimpling the film -- again as shown in the video-- common for midges and mayflies lay low in water. The stem of the palmered hackle makes for a segmented abdomen like seen on both midges and mayflies. Further, the palmered hackle trimmed flat sitting under the translucent wing used here makes for a diffusely-lit fuzzy bodied fly-- which by the response of the fish--is thought to be alluring to trout. Wing: For wing material, I use strips cut from a frosted CPE (chlorinated polyethylene) bag. You can buy 4 mil thick bags from Ebay for $9/100. CPE is a durable, tear-resistant lightweight plastic. CPE's frosting lets a diffuse light through unto palmered hackle-- lighting up the body like would happen on the naturals. If needed, I use a strip cut from the bags welded seam to make a stiffer doubled wing. The strip is cut to about 2mm wide and 10-15 mm long for ease of handling. Before lashing in the wing, I make several winds of thread just behind the hook eye to make a platform for the wing so that it is not wedged upward by the thickness of the palmered hackle. This platform allows the wing such to project more or less parallel to the the flat-cut hackle and hook shank. Trim the wing into a V-shape and a length just short of hook bend after lashing it in. Double Whip finish.

Good point. I had not thought about it as an alternative to hot glue. Along the line that you brought up, it seems that bobber stops could also be a replacement for glass beads in that sort of fly pattern.

Video on How to Tie a Bobber Stop Worm: https://youtu.be/kQVObAcu6IU Introduction Wriggling is a coiling and uncoiling behavior of a larva or worms body. It is a characteristic movement of Chironomids as shown at the start of this video clip and also often seen in the annelids--the phylum consisting of terrestrial and aquatic worms as well as leeches. Chironomid larva and annelids are generally thought to be what the San Juan Worm emulates. The bobber stop worm tied in this video is a San Juan Worm variant designed to simulate this behavior by using tungsten beads to weight the ends of a worm body built on a flexible braid--much like the Bolas weapon used in South America. The thinking is that when a bolas-weighted fly encounters an obstacle, like a rock when the fly is presented using bottom bouncing, the weighted ends can bounce off of it or tend to wrap around it producing a wriggling-like action. Bobber Stop Worm Recipe Hook: Mustad R50 (like the 94840) size 10-14 or other suitable hook that has a shank about 3/4 inch (17 mm) long. I also like a standard shank length, extra wide gap, hook like the Tiemco 102Y or a short shank, wide gap hook, like the Firehole 637. Thread: Nanosilk 50D black Bead on Hook Shank: 3mm gold countersunk brass bead. Can also use Tungsten beads but you may want to use a reduced diameter bead to avoid making the fly so heavy that it sticks rather than bottom bounces. Thread the bead on the hook shank and move it up to behind the hookeye and lay down a thin thread base behind it along the length of the hook shank. Then the bead is more or less centered on the hook shank. The thinking behind the gold bead is that the flash will attract the fish to bite there--near where the hook point is placed. A bite out on the ends of the fly arms is less likely to end up with a hooked fish. Beading cord: Low-Vis Green Suffix 832 braid. I Use 10 lb test braid or less. Within reason, given the size of the fish your are targeting, the thinner the beading cord, the better the wriggling action of the finished fly with the trade-off of ever-lessening durability. The 6 or 8 lb test braid seems a good compromise for flexibility vs. durability. 10 lb test braid leads to a less flexible fly but one that more readily keeps its arms extended. Bobber stops: Small or medium red silicone bobber stops. I buy them from affiliates listing on the Amazon, Walmart, Ebay, Alibaba and Temu websites. Silicone bobber stops used to tie the Bobber Stop Worm (BSW) are translucent football shaped forms that impart a realistic semi-transparent segmented look to the BSW. The bobber stops shown in the video, are the Aktudy brand found on the Walmart website and cost a little less than 8 bucks for 300 or those on the Temu site for about $2/100. Bola Style Weighting: 2 to 2.5 mm black nickel tungsten beads threaded on and slid to the knotted end of beading cord. This weighting is inspired by the South American bolas (AKA boleadora) weapon that consists of two or three end-weighted cords tied together at a common point. When a bola is thrown and hits a target it tends to wrap around it. The bola wrapping action, as employed here, is in the end weighting of the worm arms that cause the Bobber Stopper worm to wrap or wriggle when it encounters obstructions like when bottom bouncing. Worm arms: Tie an improved surgeon's loop on a 10 inch (25 cm) piece of braid and cut off the loop and tag ends to idea is the have a large knot to butt the Bola weighting beads against. Then thread on 4-7 bobber stops depending on how large a fly is desired. Make two of these. Assembly: Thread the tag end braid forming the BSW arms in opposite directions through the gold bead. Lash in place on either side of gold bead and on out to one bobber stop on either side. trim tag ends. Wind thread out to hook eye and whip finish. Cement: UV setting resin or waterproof superglue applied on whip finish and over the thread base on hook shank after the fly is tied off.

The spinner snaps used to make a Detachable Strike Indicator (a DSI) are available at Tackle Building Supply websites, Like Lurepartsonline.com--They are called a "Quick Change Clevis" there.

See this related video on fishing a DSI: https://youtu.be/_LE13CNafoM