Trout Love Midge Pupa: Yesterday my friend Phil reported a midge hatch at his club pond. And he nailed some nice fish on small flies including the chunky rainbow below.
Yup, trout love to slurp up midges. And why not. At certain times, and in certain places, they are the most abundant food source available. This is especially true in ponds and lakes. No question, in still water midges are extremely prolific. Often they are better referred to as chironomids. Typically in still water these pupa vary from size 16# up to whopping size 10#. In moving water, however, they often are smaller, more in the 16# down to 24# range.
Chironomids patterns are very simple. A thin body of floss, fur, or thread and a rib of contrasting thread, tinsel or wire. And often a bead is added at the head. Colored plastic or tungsten your choice. Bingo you’re done. In the color department you can’t go wrong these basics – black, red, or green.
Zebra midge
For rivers, I really like the good old Zebra midge. Very deadly. Yeah you’ll need some fine tippet material to fish this baby. 7x does the trick. This one has a tungsten bead.
Fine Tippets are Needed
Here is a few more midge patterns from my fly box. Keep Calm and Carry On!
By the way the macro shots were taken with my phone. No, no, I don’t have a flagship, $1000, fancy smart phone with a super duper camera. Mine is a cheap $200 run-of-the-mill unit. But here’s the secret. I have a Xenvo Lens Kit. For $40 it gives your phone a very good wide angle and a decent macro lens. Works on almost all cell phones. Useful and well made.
