Hallowed Waters Journal

The Trout / Salmon / Steelhead Passion as it was Meant to Be

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Winter Midging Magic

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( One of my 80’s circa midge boxes bestowed upon me by the late great Limestone spring creek master-Vince Marinaro. It was full of #22-28 midges on Vince’s wide/side bent Partridge hooks he designed that were the state of the game. Also an image of one of my first authored pieces from the early 90’s on Midging- also Laurie poking around the rocks on a winter’s day on the Falling Spring Branch in PA)

The art of minutiae and fly fishing takes you into a solace realm in the sport. Many are not to be bothered with small minuscule flies let alone see nor tie them! Plus tippet sizes of 6-7-8-9 X don’t hold larger trout well and one must be a true battle master to hold fish approaching 20 inches on this light terminal tackle.

( Midge pupae and shuck in the meniscus-Tsukamoto image)

Yet as I slowly cruised down my tailwater river yesterday as the skies were blue and sunny and the air temps were a balmy 33F, rare for winter, the small #28 black midges were hatching and a few trout heads were popping up for them. This winter Midging magic plays out all over the world where Diptera are found in massive numbers on mountain freestoners, spring creeks and tailwaters all year round- but most mostly in winter when not much else is happening aquatic insect wise.

(sipping midges on a warm sunny winter’s day is a trout’s idea of paradise- water temps in the 30’s or near freezing, trout dont care! The old adage that dry fly action begins at 45F water temps is folklore and no longer applicable )

And quite honestly, as more rivers around the world become depredated through habitat decline , siltation, pollution etc., the mighty midge populations are actually soaring and can tolerate the most destructed ecosystems. And there maybe more than 1 million species in the world of Diptera. Fortunately for the fly fisher, Chironomidae and Simuliams are the ones we need be concerned with. In winter black/dark gray is the word and sizes from as large as #16 simuliams on high Rocky Mountain lakes to #28’s on spring creeks and tailwaters are the gig.

( my largest spring creek brown ever on a Chironomid midge-25 incher came on a spring creek in the magnificent Driftless Coulee area of Wisconsin )

In the current winter issue, the “Bug Doctor-Johnny Miller” and I explore winter Midging magic in depth and talk about the hatch, the flies, the set-ups and the presentation needed to fool selective winter sippers and subsurface nymphers. The passion and presentation for all things Trout/Salmon/Steelhead fly fishing starts at www.hallowedwaters.com…come along for the journey!