Midge Fishing Crazy Good

[HighPlainsFlyFisher]

Spent a couple days on Taney this past week during low water and I've never had such quality midge fishing anywhere. Sight fishing to chunky bows that are sipping midges all around you is about as good as it gets this time of year. Fish were caught on drys , soft hackles and zebra midges pretty much anything even resembling a midge was getting eaten. Nothing huge , but lots of fish with several pushing the 18" mark. Best fly for me was a #22 miracle midge. I'm sitting here at work wishing I was there right now...hope some of you are able to get down and take advantage of the great fishing.

A couple of full reports with pics posted on my blog if anyones interested......Jeff

http://highplainsflyfisher.blogspot.com/

[Ham]

Sounds like a big time.

[Flysmallie]

nice blog.

[Jeremy Hunt]

I couldn't agree more. Winter is such an awesome time for fishing small midge patterns. What I've been doing is fishing loop wing emergers in the film right along the banks and having a ball with the trout. The key is to fish at an angle without getting in the water. The fish are holding thick right along the banks (not so much in the middle of the river). Thanks for the report!!

[HighPlainsFlyFisher]

My experience exactly Jeremy. Most of my fish were in less than two feet of water right along the shore so you had to stay out of the water and just keep your eyes scanning the shore for cruisers and sippers. Got to be one of my favorite ways to catch fish at Taney , shallow water active fish. It still amazes me at the number of people who think they have to be at least waist deep to fish. 90% of the time they're standing right where the fish would be feeding if they weren't there. Most days on Taney I don't get wet above my ankles unless I'm crossing from one side of the river to the other. Another fly that had good results for me was a simple thread midge with a CDC wing to keep it hanging in the film , black or olive worked great. Thanks for the comments guys....Jeff

http://highplainsflyfisher.blogspot.com/

[XP 590]

So true Jeff. A guide we know (nudge-nudge, wink-wink) taught me one of the biggest mistakes many people make is standing where they should be fishing....that is to say, many OTHER people...I've never been guilty of that!

If you figure any given hole has X number of catchable fish, you climb in there and attract 25 of them to your feet, you now have [X-25] less fish to catch...solve for X. I knew all that algebra would come in handy one day.

-Dave

[jah]

My experience exactly Jeremy. Most of my fish were in less than two feet of water right along the shore so you had to stay out of the water and just keep your eyes scanning the shore for cruisers and sippers. Got to be one of my favorite ways to catch fish at Taney , shallow water active fish. It still amazes me at the number of people who think they have to be at least waist deep to fish. 90% of the time they're standing right where the fish would be feeding if they weren't there. Most days on Taney I don't get wet above my ankles unless I'm crossing from one side of the river to the other. Another fly that had good results for me was a simple thread midge with a CDC wing to keep it hanging in the film , black or olive worked great. Thanks for the comments guys....Jeff

http://highplainsfly...r.blogspot.com/

Is the advice of "staying out of the water" applicable only to Taney? I remember fishing Taney and the trout are right at your waders, but when I fish the Current, they NEVER do this. Why do they do this at one stream and not another? I've always been confused by that, so I'd love to know why!

[XP 590]

Is the advice of "staying out of the water" applicable only to Taney? I remember fishing Taney and the trout are right at your waders, but when I fish the Current, they NEVER do this. Why do they do this at one stream and not another? I've always been confused by that, so I'd love to know why!

From my experience and studies, Taneycomo has some unique characteristics. With the constant tailwater fluctuations, the trout are often seeking out softer current, such as around the edges. Also any time you walk into the water, you churn up lots of scuds and other bugs from the rocks, hence the buffet line at your feet. Since most of the fish in Taney are stockers, whether they are recently stocked or older, they have become accustomed to associating humans with food.

The fish in the Blue Ribbon section of the Current are a little more wild, and are not nearly as concentrated as the fish in Taney, so they are more spooky.

[HighPlainsFlyFisher]

There are several places around the country where the trout tend to congregate at fishermans feet to feed and they all seem to have several things in common :

1. Tailwaters with abundant scud / sowbug life that gets dislodged by fishermens feet

2. Sections of water that see large numbers of fisherman on a regular basis so the trout get accustomed to the idea.

3. Rivers with shallow slower moving water as opposed to freestone style water.

I would still say that the adage of fishing the water closest to you first and not wading in too deep applies everywhere. Even when streamer fishing I'll tend to stand on shore and make short little casts to swing my fly through the water in front and directly downstream of my shoreline position before wading in. At Taney though it will improve your fishing 100% if you stay out of the water as much as possible , at least for daytime fishing , night fishing is a different ballgame alltogether.

You're right about that certain guide XP...I was pretty clueless until he taught me a few things....Jeff

http://highplainsflyfisher.blogspot.com/