I haven’t had much time for tying lately. I have been doing a bit of reading but I should be doing more. I need to finish the Caddis Fly Entomology series I started. The bitter cold here has discouraged me from venturing out, I’m hoping this weekend holds warmer weather and trout. The other night I managed to whip out a few different midge patters in size #20, #22 in anticipation for the emergences to come.
Black Midge Larvae: This is a black midge larvae that I came up with using Brown Midge ribbing. Pretty standard tie, I added 3 turns of .15 weight and hid it in the bead head adding no additional bulk to the end product. I felt it turned out well.
Gold Midge Larvae: This is the same tie as above only with a twist. I fooled around with the idea of putting a layer of gold holo tinsel under the midge rib, this is how it turned out. I also used UV Dun Ice Dub rather than Peacock.
Bumble Bee Midge Larvae: This is super simple, almost as much as Wendy’s thread monster. Black tying thread and a tight rib of SM Gold Holo Tinsel. I’m hoping it performs well.
Lafontaine’s EZ2C Adult Midge: This is not the easiest pattern, it involves antron, super thin packing foam that can be a pain to work with, and the right size hackle. I tied these with grizzly and black hackle.
These are the exact materials I used, I find the dubbing to be fairly easy to work with, provides what I want and is stronger than peacock herl. As for the Tinsel and the Ribbing, this was the first time I used them, I dug it.
I’ve had peacock ice dub since I started tying. Invaluable stuff there. Like those midge patterns.