Trout,
Snow and Tiny Flies
I guess I'm not into most
wintertime sports. I tried down hill skiing, only once. I don't
need to tell the reader the results of that day. Snowmobiling has
never really interested me though I've done it a few times. It was
fun, but expensive. I'm a fly fisherman. Here in Idaho, year around
angling opportunities provide enough adventure for me.
Fly fishing through the
winter months is mostly a subsurface affair- strike indicators and
various nymphs as well as some streamer action. But there can be
some dry fly action too. Find a windless afternoon when the
temperature climbs above freezing and you will see rising fish. At
first, you see only only a fish here and there. Then the numbers of
rising trout increase into an honest surface feeding frenzy. You
look close but you cannot see what they might be feeding on. It
appears they are feeding on nothing. But there is a tiny morsel
there and it must taste like candy to a trout for these tiny flies
seem hardly worth the effort, even for a fish. They go by many
names, Chironomids, Midges, Buzzers, Snow Flies and the colder the
weather gets, the smaller they get. Pretty soon a #18 midge looks
about twice as big as it should be and a #24 about right to match the
hatch.
The challenge lies in the
whole midge fishing situation; wet, cold, froze over line guides,
threading fine tippet through the tiny eye of a minuscule trout fly,
donning and doffing gloves between tasks, and the delicate fly
presentations needed to fool and not spook feeding trout. Only
crazy, obsessed fly rod gurus typically apply.
To understand midge fishing
and choosing appropriate flies, you need to have a knowledge of it's
life-cycle. In that cycle, there are key stages that are important
to success. First is the larvae. They are worm-like and flies
should be slightly long and show segmentation in appearance.
Patterns such as a tungsten beaded Zebra Midge, presented deep under
a strike indicator will get the action rolling, waiting for the
hatch. Red and Black are the most common colors to use but one should
have other colors as well, like blue, olive and silver.
Midge Larvae mature into
Pupae and begin wiggling their way to the surface where they will
suspend at the surface for a time in preparation to hatching into
adults. At the onset of a midge hatch, trout will hone in rising and
suspended midge pupae as they are vulnerable at this time and easy
prey. The same zebra midge, only suspended higher under a strike
indicator or multiple fly rigs with flies are varying depths can
produce fast action when things start happening. This is when you
start to see rising fish. The great mistake is to assume it is time
for a dry fly but the fish are actually still feeding on emerging and
suspended midge pupae. The Zebra Midge or similar midge larvae/pupa
imitation, tied with no metal bead or a extra small plastic bead will
work better than a deeply presented fly will. Such a pattern can be
still be fished with a strike indicator to aid in detecting hits, but
will not fall very deep in the water column and often stay with in a
few inches of the surface. I find keeping patterns simple will draw
more attention from fish than complicated patterns do. The emerging
midge is simple in shape and fly patterns should be simple as well.
I bit if flash tied in at the tail will draw attention to feeding
fish.
As the Pupae emerge or
'shuck' into an adult, the fish will become more aggressive in
feeding and when you see rises, quite a bit more intense than the
earlier 'dimples' and other telltale signs of fish feeding just under
the surface, it is dry fly time. Again, keep patterns simple. I tie
a lot of my flies, using the tying tread as the main component of the
midges body and a shucking midge can be as easy a pattern to tie as
the other patterns, only with a tuft of CDC, Elk Hair or closed cell
foam to keep the fly right on the surface. You can do away with the
strike indicator but often, I still use them because in such a frenzy
of feeding trout, it can be hard to decipher strikes from just
fishing rising close by. My eyes are just not good enough to spot a
#20=24 dry fly on the top. A fast rising trout that takes your fly
and dives back to the depths will take the strike indicator down too.
While I'm on the subject of strike indicators, I must add, that as
in the midge fly, think small, so should you think with the
indicator. A tiny knot of yarn, treated with floatant works great.
Some just use another fly like an Elk Hair Caddis but I save those
flies for warmer months and just use a small foam or yarn indicator.
The final stage of a midge
hatch is what I call 'dead midges' – the midge equivalent of a
mayfly spinner fall. In my experience, it can provide some of the
fastest action of a midge hatch. After a good hatch, the surface
literally becomes covered with drowned, dying, stuck in the shuck,
midge clusters and other left overs. At times, schools of trout
slurp up these after dinner morsels like a bunch of hungry carp. As
with the other stages of a hatch, a strike indicator can really aid
in detection takes and believe me, they can be light at the end a
trout's midge dinner.
Proper gear selection for
fishing such tiny flies under such brutal conditions, varies from
angler to angler. Many just grab the same fly rod set up they use
the rest of the year. Others are so particular, they have certain
fly rods set up just for midge fishing. I prefer a moderate action
graphite rod, no longer than 8 ½ feet in the 3 to 5 wt range. Such
a rod aids in protecting fine tippets and helps keep hooked fish on
sub #20 flies, hooked. For those fly rodders who like going retro,
this is a great time to break out old glass and bamboo rods. It is
debatable whether or not to use bamboo in sub freezing temperatures.
With my cane rods, I try not to use them in temps much lower than
freezing and even then, I give them a proper wipe down and some TLC
before I put them away. I am one of those who love fishing glass and
cane fly rods. When conditions permit, I find myself fishing a
bamboo rod more than any other kind. When conditions do not allow
for the use of a fine bamboo rod, I reach for an old moderate action
8 foot 5wt graphite rod, from the 80's, at the dawn of a now, very
famous fly rod company. The rod is actually a true 3/4wt but marked
5wt as few 4wt lines were available then. It is light, as light as
many 2wt rods today and as soft and forgiving to cast as fine cane.
For a graphite rod, it is about perfect for midge fishing. It's
getting hard to find a true moderate action graphite fly rod made
today. This is sad. True, many of today's high end, fast action
graphite fly rods will cast an entire line with a false cast or two
and nail a targeted trout 60 feet away, but in midge fishing, this is
not what we want.
In addition to rod
selection, line and leader selection can be just as critical in the
challenges of midge fishing. Walk into most fly shop and ask if they
recommend 'under lining' a fly rod – that is casting a line that is
one size lighter than recommended. I bet such recommendations are
rare but in my experience, I find under lining a fly rod aids greatly
in working with 6X tippets or finer. A proper lined or an over lined
rod will generate higher line speeds, which I feel work against you
when trying to cast such fine leaders and present them lightly on the
water among feeding trout that can spook easily.
This is oh, so hard to
accomplish with a fast action rod or even a medium fast rod, hence my
belief moderate graphite or slower action cane and glass rods are
much better suited for this kind of duty.
I will leave the reader with
one final thought, that is to use barbless hooks, even when not
required by law. One can argue this subject a long time but I feel
there are two reasons to mash the barbs on a fly and both have to do
with safety. Safety to the angler and safety to the fish. I de-barb
my flies as I tie them. A barbed fly deep in your skin will take all
the joy out of an otherwise great day on the water. Even a barbless
hook, stuck somewhere in your person requires some first aid, but I
guarantee you will be 'wounded' much less. Catch and release fishing
is much easier to practice with barbless hooks as well. You'll
release more live fish and less dead fish if you can unhook a fish
quickly and with minimal handling.
There is no reason to spend
the colder months in front of a computer or wandering around the
house suffering from a severe case of cabin fever. When the forecast
is for calm winds and slightly warmer temperatures, cheer up, load up
on some midges, dress warm and I'll see you on the river.
About a #24 will duplicate this midge