Help with Midges

[Robert R.]

Looking for a little help.

Are there any tricks of the trade or rules of thumb for fishing midges?

I have only ever had luck on them one time and that was on the Norfork fishing a little riffle. Caught several that day using a 20 solid black midge with a indicator right at the tail end of the riffle in very shallow water. A guy handed it too me when he was on his way off the water and I was on my way in. Wonderful guy, I simply asked "have any luck?" and he handed me a fly and told me where to fish - sure wish I would have gotten his name.

Since then I have tried fishing them on several occassions, with minimal success. I have knocked down to 7x tippet and the smallest indicator I could get away with, but just not having much luck.

I know there could be a lot of factors to why I am not having success, so I guess I am looking for some generalizations if there is such a thing. Type of water you look for? Where in the water column you want your presentation?

I know it's a pretty broad question, but any help or thoughts would be appreciated.

[brittsnbirds]

Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. That is the experience that I have had. I've had days when a Primrose and Pearl or black Zebra Midge tore them up. In my limited opinion, it depends on what they are "actively" feeding on and how deep they are. Some days they will hit it just under the surface others it has to be bouncing the bottom. Have you ever tried just dead drifting without an indicator? I've taken fish that way. Present directly across from you in moving water, then let it swing. Alot of times when it hits the end of the swing and the midge starts to move up they smack it.

You might try and pick up a book or two on midging. There are tons of ways to fish them and tons of types you can use.

[boynabubble]

You may have been short on luck because the midge was to high up in the water column. You said you caught most of your fish in very shallow water? The thing with midges is although they are an important fish food,they are tiny little insects that are pretty inconspicuous, there are lots of them, and a fish usually won't go out of it's way to hit one. So you need to get the midge as close to the fish as possible. One technique that I have had a lot of luck with on all sorts of streams is fishing a midge as a dropper behind a beadhead attractor nynph such as a #16-18 copper john. You may not get a strike on the nymph, but being more noticeable, it peaks the fish's curiosity and when it comes in for a closer look it often hits the midge. This is also a good way to get the midge on or right above the bottom. You can use a strike indicator, but the weight of the nymph helps in detecting strikes. Give this a try sometime. Hope this helps.

Cody