Winter is a great time to use midges because most aquatic insects seem to wait until spring to show their “faces”. Midges are the most prolific insect in the trout’s diet so we need to learn how to fish them. Here are a few midge tips for you:
1. In the winter, when I see “swirls” on top of the water (i.e not trout sipping insects off the top) or fish “tailing” I take it that the trout are finding just below the surface. My fly of choice is the soft hackle because it can imitate several types of emerging insects but my second fly of choice in the winter is the midge pupa.
2. I fish the midge with a dead drift and an indicator. Depending on where the fish are you can fish the midge from one foot from the top to the bottom of the river. Make sure you get a good “long”drift, i.e. not 5-10 feet but more like 20-30 feet. How do you do that? Cast up stream then immediately mend your line up stream, keep the indicator ahead of the fly line. Once the fly line catches up with your indicator mend again upstream. As the indicator heads down stream past you then “kick out” more fly line so your drift goes longer downstream.
3. Detecting your strike is not as easy as it may seem. Don’t rely on your strike indicator to go out of site before you set the hook. You will miss a good 75% of your strikes. If your strike indicator floats downstream with the same speed as the current with no stopping or movement then you probably have no strike but if it stops, twitches, or goes down then SET the HOOK! Also, watch for movement in the water (wear those polarized glasses). Expert anglers watch not only the indicator but also any movement, flashes, or opening mouths of the trout beneath the fly. If you see anything like this SET the HOOK. If you do, you will catch more fish!
4. Ending your drift properly is important. Toward the end of your drift allow your fly to swing up in the current. Then when you are ready to take your fly line out of the water to cast upstream again, do it slowly because I have had many hits right at this time – don’t lose that big fish by pulling out your line quickly.
5. Fly Tiers: If you are missing your hits with the size 18 midge because the hook is so small then tie them on a size 16. When using a size 16 “curved” pupa hook just tie your fly the same size as if it were on a size 18. The size 16 hook may get you more hook ups.
6. If you can handle casting two flys together on your leader then try using a dry fly in place of your indicator. Make sure the dry fly is large enough to hold up your “weighted” midge fly. Use a large Caddis or Stimulator or some other attractor fly. You could get a hit on the dry as well as the midge.
7. Scroll down to the end of this page and check out the video on winter midge fishing. Happy midging!!!!