Tactics
The best midge fishermen have great powers of observation and a meticulous, predatory approach to their angling. Andy Yong Kim--a guide on the San Juan River--is one of these trout hunters. Kim is either changing flies, adjusting weight, changing his leader length, or landing a fish. There is very little wasted effort or fruitless casting involved in his technique. He believes far too many fishermen string their rods at the parking lot and cast the same nymph rigs all day long. They may enjoy some success during parts of the day, but they would catch more fish if they modified their tactics as conditions changed.
If you are serious about fishing midge hatches, your first course of action will be to sample what's in the water with a seine or a small aquarium net. Early in the day, you are likely to see more midge larvae than anything else.
In non-hatch conditions, or prior to a hatch, fish a midge larva imitation close to the bottom. When the hatch begins, and you see fish suspend slightly higher in the water, they are likely taking midge pupae. Fish breaking the surface are either taking midge adults (dry flies) or emerging midge pupae just under the surface. In both instances you are likely to see trout "noses" break the surface. Before you switch to a dry fly, try an emerging pupa fished right in the surface film.
Most of the time, trout feed on midge larvae near the bottom, so you need a nymph rig that delivers the fly to the fish effectively. If you want your fly right on the bottom, the distance between your strike indicator and terminal fly should be about 11/2 times the depth of the water. I think everyone but the most novice angler has heard this advice, but most people refuse to act on it. They still set up a 9-foot leader in the morning and fish with it all day just because it's convenient. That's fine if you are out for the fresh air, but if you want to make every cast count, you must alter your leader to suit specific water depths.
I recommend a moveable yarn indicator or a small cork or foam indicator held in place with a toothpick. Putty, stick-on foam indicators, or loose yarn tied on with a slip knot are fine for static fishing, but can be frustrating nuisances when you move your indicator thirty times a day or more. An indicator that moves quickly and stays in place after you move it will make your day more enjoyable.
The other key to getting your fly to the fish is weight on the leader. Midge flies are too small to effectively use internal weight, so you must carry a good selection of micro-split-shot in various sizes. As with the leader length, you must constantly change the weight on your leader to match the water depth and speed you are fishing in.
Weight on your leader helps you get down to where the fish are, but it also interferes with your ability to detect strikes because it creates a dead zone between the weight and the rest of your leader. Lighter weights reduce this effect, so I recommend using as little weight as possible for the water type. Spreading the weight along the leader also reduces the "anchor" effect. If you need a lot of weight, it's best to distribute a few pieces along the leader, rather than putting on one big shot in a single spot. I fish two flies and always position the top fly above the weight so I have direct contact with at least one fly.
Heavy weight gets your flies down to fish in fast water but can also act like an anchor, creating undetectable subsurface drag. Outfitter and local expert Tim Heng showed me how to defeat this type of drag on the Frying Pan River. My friend and I showed Heng a trout we had spent hours trying to catch, and he promptly hooked and landed the 12-pound leviathan in three casts. He used similar weight to get the fly down to the level of the fish, but when his fly was about 12 or 18 inches in front of the fish, he "hopped" the weight off the river bottom, creating slack in his tippet between the weight and the fly. That's all it took for the trout to inhale his #20 red midge larva imitation.
In a two-fly rig, I tie a pupa on top, because the real thing is likely to be higher in the water column than a larva. When fish begin to key on pupae, they start taking the top fly more than the bottom fly, but there are other signs. You'll begin to see adult midges on the surface of the water and rocks along the shore. If you are sight-fishing, you'll notice the fish are more active. They'll move side to side more frequently, gulping pupae bound for the surface, and they'll often move into different water types to take advantage of the hatch.
When a hatch really gets going, trout suspend in the water column, sometimes just inches under the surface, and gorge on emerging pupae. It's important to pay attention to where the fish are feeding, and if the fish are "up" on midges, you'll have to drastically reduce your leader length. You can do this by moving your strike indicator down the leader toward the fly or by removing the indicator altogether and greasing your leader down to within 12 to 18 inches of the fly.
You're likely to see fish breaking the surface when the fish are suspended and eating midge pupae. Many people are fooled when they see this behavior and switch to a dry fly too early in the game. If the hatch is just getting under way, these trout are almost always taking midge pupae just under the surface. You may put on a dry fly and catch a trout or two, or you can fish a midge pupa just under the surface and catch a dozen--it's up to you.
Fish an emerging midge pupa like an invisible dry fly. Grease the leader and tippet down to within a foot of the fly, and you should be able to see the tippet on the water. If your cast turned over correctly, your fly should be about 12 inches beyond the visible portion of your tippet. When a trout makes a grab in this zone, set the hook.
Trout have less time to inspect your fly pattern when they feed close to the surface, but the fishing is rarely easy. Many anglers get frustrated when they aren't getting any takes and often wonder if they have the right pattern or if micro-drag is causing refusals. Sometimes this is the case, but in most instances, the trout has not seen the fly. A trout hanging just inches below the surface has a very narrow field of vision, and in some instances, a fly delivered inches to one side or the other is off target. You have to spoon-feed these trout so all they have to do is open their mouths.
For this reason, long drifts to specific fish are ineffective. You simply can't cast 10 feet upstream of a trout and hope the fly drifts directly to him. Bull's-eye casts are what separate expert midge fishermen from the tourists on tough tailwaters.
The best presentation is usually a down-and-across cast where you deliver the fly 6 inches directly upstream of the trout. You don't need a lot of slack in the line because your drift will be short. For those of us who can't deliver the fly with that degree of accuracy every cast, it's also effective to overcast just a little, pull the fly into the trout's feeding lane, and then drop the rod tip for a short but deadly drift.
Late in the hatch--when pupae begin to dwindle and many adults gather on the surface--trout begin to key on adults. The Griffith's Gnat has caught trout in these situations for decades and is probably the only midge pattern you can see on the water at any distance, which accounts for its great popularity with guides and their sports. Sometimes when midges hatch, they ball up in a clump on the surface of the water. When trout are taking these clumps, the Griffith's Gnat is the perfect imitation.
When midges are not balling up and trout are selectively feeding on tiny individual insects (which is most of the time), it's time for a more realistic imitation. A Griffith's Gnat will take some fish, but the right single adult midge pattern--with the proper presentation--will catch every fish.
A #22-#28 dry fly is impossible for me to see on the water, so I rarely even look for it. I fish the "invisible dry-fly method" I discussed above and concentrate on where the fly ought to be. A greased leader points in the direction of the fly, and after a while you'll find yourself becoming proficient at estimating the distance, and therefore the location, of your fly. Wait until the trout closes its mouth around your fly, and set the hook quickly and delicately.
Ross Purnell is web content director of www.flyfisherman.com.
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