Epoxy Midge?

[Travis Swift]

As I'm building up my beginners fly box for Taneycomo I look all over for flies. I need to learn how to tie midges at some point but for now I've been buying flies from Jeremy Hunt on his website and he ties some awesome stuff.  I also look on ebay quite a bit.  I notice on ebay there are Epoxy Midges.....they look pretty awesome to me.  Question is, has anyone fished one and what are the advantages or disadvantages to an Epoxy Midge vs a Regular tied midge? 

[Flysmallie]

2 hours ago, Travis Swift said:

Question is, has anyone fished one and what are the advantages or disadvantages to an Epoxy Midge vs a Regular tied midge? 

They are prettier than a "regular" midge. It will add some durability. But I don't think a fish is going to care one way or the other. 

[tjm]

^that ^

If/when you roll you own,  you may want to do UV resin instead  of epoxy- I don't use either one, but the UV sure looks easier and faster. When I could still see a #24 my midges were floss and lacquer  and on occasion a bare hook. I have graduated to #16s now ...  

[Travis Swift]

44 minutes ago, Flysmallie said:

They are prettier than a "regular" midge. It will add some durability. But I don't think a fish is going to care one way or the other. 

they darn sure are prettier but wasn't sure what the "scoop" was on them, whether they were any good or different or not. 

[Flysmallie]

I don't fish midges much anymore but when I did I didn't see a noticeable difference. A bead, some wire and thread and it's good to go. I never even put any head cement on them. 

[fishinwrench]

Coats & Clark - Summer brown 👍

Twist it up tight, no wire.  

[CLoyd]

Are you meaning a midge that's coated in epoxy after it's tied, or the type with a bead of epoxy for the head?  Either way I prefer a standard tied version with a tungsten head so it gets down there.  I don't even use head cement sometimes, like Flysmallie.  Coating them in epoxy will just make them more durable, but I can usually catch several fish on one before the thread get's frayed and it unravels.

 

I would recommend learning to tie them!  It's a wonderfully simple pattern to start with, just thread and wire and a bead.  I can turn out several dozen in an hour.  It would be hard to do that with epoxy. 

[Travis Swift]

I would galdy accept hook styles, bead sizes and wire sizes if anyone wants to share.  I would be looking at tying 16 and 18s.

[snagged in outlet 3]

I use tungsten beads and scud hooks.  Bead, thread, wire and coat in nail polish.  

[CLoyd]

I use the following for my simple thread midges:

-Lightening Strike SE3 Scud Hooks

-2mm Tungsten bead (for size 18) - If you don't use tungsten you might have problems getting it down there.  Copper is the most common color I use.  Sometimes I use black.  You can also use gold or silver but I don't have as much luck with those colors.

-Wire to match the bead, size Small 

-70 Denier UTC thread - Lot's of colors to choose from but I like Rusty Brown, Black, Olive, and Rusty Dun

That's really all there is too it with this pattern.  Feel free to experiment with different color combinations.  Once you get this one down you could try some midge patterns that use some extra materials, like the Primrose & Pearl and the Ruby 2.