Welcome back to the discussion on how using midges will increase your success while fly fishing. In the previous blog post, WROC brought to light the importance of midges to Trout regardless of where one fishes. In this post, I will go into more detail on the importance of adult midges and how to find success when using them.
All anglers have been on a stream or lake at some time and have seen fish rising in abundance only to find few willing to cooperate. You stand there changing fly after fly trying to get a trout to take an interest with no success and you would swear that it appears as though trout are eating air because you cannot see the flies they are taking. First, let me state that this situation is very common and happens everywhere trout live. Fishing midge dry flies is the pinnacle of dry fly fishing as every element of the “game” has to be spot on. The fish are generally large, the flies are small, casts have to be precise and the drifts need to match the rhythm of the trout and be drag free. There is a “club” in the fishing world called the 20/20 club and basically it is a badge of honor and accomplishment. The meaning of the “20/20 club” is landing a 20+ inch fish on a size 20 or smaller pattern. Given the size of the fly in this club, the best way to accomplish it is fishing midges. Given this fact let’s start our discussion with the fly pattern.
Midge dries are small, and invariably, when you find trout rising to them they will be even smaller than you can imagine. Trout that are keyed into midges are selective, methodical and ultra-spooky as generally speaking, they are feeding just below the surface of the water and/or in very shallow water. Remember, the trout has to see the fly, and given the size of the midge, the trout need to be up close and personal so they capitalize their energy expenditure versus the gain of eating them. Because of their location in the water column, trout run into predator issues from Osprey and Eagles, so they are very alert and they will flee with careless casts and sloppy wading.
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