GlassJet's Midges ;)

[GlassJet]

Hi there,
The midge is a very common fly on my river, in all its guises. I've tied these up as a starting point to develop my own midge patterns this season. The green one is an attempt to suggest the midge I managed to catch on my river last weekend, both in terms of colour and size, in what was a sparse hatch.

In all cases the hackle is genetic hen grizzle. I've tied in the hackle as Roy does in this SBS here:
http://www.flymphforum.com/phpBB3/viewt ... ?f=5&t=554

The only difference is that I stripped one side of the barbs from the feather, as I thought the full feather was too bushy, and didn't have the 'gangly' look I am after. (And yes, I am aware of the irony of that, with a genetic feather... ) I do think it is a very secure way of tying a hackle for a fishing fly though.

Towards the end of last season, I was beginning to have success with a couple of patterns, both with fully palmered soft hackles and fishing in the surface, so this hackle is a kind of compromise between the two, part-palmered, if you like!

The silks are all Pearsall's, and heavily waxed with dark cobblers' wax. The hooks are Varivas Wave #20, only because that is all I have in this size, and I wanted a light hook to fish in the surface.

Purple Midge



Orange Midge



Brown Midge



Green Midge



Olive Midge


Any thoughts? Can you envisage trout attaching themselves to the end of these?

Andrew

[Old Hat]

Those are all outstanding midges Andrew. A definite must have for the fly box. Another color to try is a dark red thread, claret, wine...etc. As midges pre-hatch they have a blood rush per say and take on a red swollen look, I have done well with a red body and grizzly hackle and try to get it to ride in or just under the surface film. Just another color scheme to add to your wonderful collection.

[GlassJet]

Thanks for that. Right, so it is out with the crimson silk then!

Andrew.

[Otter]

Well done Andrew , midge are the less illustrious of most rivers fly life and yet are probably the most important. For some strange reason ignored by many anglers and boy do they miss out on some superb fishing and more than occasionally some superb fish.

These fish will often be tricky, and often a decent gale can yield some great fishing on midge. On my local river when the wind really picks up its time to do more walking and seek out those little spots where the sippers take up station, often back waters, small eddies, often the outside of a bend - slacker water where a big build up of midge form serious fodder for the trout. Learn these spots and guard their location with youir life

[GlassJet]

Given Old hat's comments, above, had a go at this:

Bloated Red Midge


Same hook, #20 again. Built a thread body on the shank (an under-under body? ) then covered it in superglue and wrapped on red, holographic tinsel (under body) then well waxed yellow silk, with dark cobbler's wax. Grizzle hackle again.

Andrew

[flyfishwithme]

Interesting Andrew but I am not sure I like it as much as the others. Still, it's success is the proof in the pudding.

[Old Hat]

My choice of wording was probably not the best. I like the others as well. Good color in this one, you got the red but I would still keep it thin. I was referring more to a swollen color, my bad.

[GlassJet]

Oh right! lol

Scrub the thread under body then...

Andrew

[skunkaroo]

Andrew,

If you're using an underbody for a small fly, do not use the standard mylar tinsel--it's really too thick. I've found the best thing to use is flashabou or Christmas tree tinsel. Both are thin enough to give the luster you want without adding bulk. And yes... skip the thread base--instead use none or a very thin superglue. In fact if you want to keep it really thin, don't tie-in the flashabou at all--just wrap it onto the glue coated shank, let it dry and then trim the tags.

Your mileage may vary, but experiment with it.

Aaron

[GlassJet]

Hi Aaron,
That last was a result of me misunderstanding what Old Hat was saying... I thought I was being very smart building the thread under-body!

In fact if you want to keep it really thin, don't tie-in the flashabou at all--just wrap it onto the glue coated shank, let it dry and then trim the tags.
Aaron

I've just tied up another doing just that. I'll photograph it tomorrow and put it up - see what you think.

Out of interest, what kind of glue would you use for that?

Andrew.