Midging

[craznazn]

Never tried to fish midges before...I've fished dries at North lake, streamers/wooly buggers ever where else.

Can someone give me a "Dummie's" guide on how to fish midges?

Thanx in advance!

[Junior]

Midges are pretty easy to fish, there are alot of different ways to fish them. I am assuming you are fishing a lake setting.

Heres a list of materials:
Indicator (yarn type, thingamabobber, sundicator, etc)
Leader (size appropriate)
Tippet (size appropriate)
Split shot (small)
2-3 midge patterns (or similar fly patterns)


Fly line / leader ---------#----------------------------j-----j---0--j Bottom
(#) Indicator (j) Midge (0) Split Shot. 12" between flies, 6-12" from bottom fly to lake bottom


Indicator at the surface, leader to your first fly (you may have to splice tippet between your leaders end and the first fly depending on water depth) , use tippet to add 2 more flys about 12 inches apart, place split shot between the bottom fly and the 2nd fly. Overhead or roll cast as far as your comfortable, if the indicator makes ANY sort of unnatural twitch, move, dunk, wiggle, etc. strip and set.

It should be noted that it is not required to fish a midge pattern this way, I have had great success fishing other patterns (emergers, streamers) the same way. You can use a bigger streamer as a top fly, (minnow pattern, etc) an emerger as a middle fly, and a midge as a bottom fly.

Be creative, use the natural feed as clues and stick fish. Any more questions PM.

Junior

[Sierra_Smitty]

Junior gave as good an explanation as you could ask for...well done sir!

My feeling is that midging is to flyfishing what soaking a mealworm under a bobber is to the spin fisherman......but boy does it work. It's not nearly as exciting as fishing dries (imho) but in Crowley or B.R. the quality of the fish will make up for all the time watching your bobber...um..I mean strike indicator.

[Junior]

Thanks!

on that note,

SierraSmitty is 100% correct in his comparison

Heres to ya:Beer Toast:

[craznazn]

Thanks!

on that note,

SierraSmitty is 100% correct in his comparison

Heres to ya:Beer Toast:

Thanks to both of you for your advice(s). Nothing beats catching a fish on a dry fly, however, when you're sitting in a boat on Crowley and you see the "fly fisherman" connecting left and right while using the "meal worm and bobber" method, well sometimes you have to go with the flow.

Junior,

I didn't expect to see that type of response, in the amount of details that you've provided. I sincerely thank you and will send you PM's with any further questions.

Does Fear No Trout have the same sentiment on midging? Just a thought...lol.

[Junior]

Craz

My pleasure, glad I could help.

I do believe Fear No Trout could be converted with the right persuasive measures, because catching fish is an awful addiction. Havent seen him in a while, maybe opener...

[dockboy]

I think the basics were essentially covered. Remember that the hatch changes daily, and the fish move up or down in water column depending on what they are eating. For example, early in the morning you might do very well with a pupa setup near the bottom, but by 11, those fish might be focusing on emergers, so changing to a an emerger style pattern higher up off the bottom. Sizing can be very critical, be sure to match the size of flies well to the size of midge currently hatching, I personally would rather throw a streamer around, as I often do. But the midging technique is an undeniably useful tool and catches fish no doubt.