size 22 for reference. Went to my local east TN tailwater today during a wild midge hatch. Was wondering if anyone had experience fishing with midges this small – I think today’s hatch was about #30 but I’m not sure.
Was able to catch a few on some subsurface midges but man they were keyed in on the emergers, literally hundreds of fish rising.
Posted by andrew_b_a
3 Comments
I think 26 is the smallest midge I bother with. I’ve had bites but rarely land fish on them. Sometimes you have to go the complete opposite in these situations… feed them some meat.
Personal opinion is how you work it is what matters..I throw a hot pink wooly and the trout slam the hell out of it. As long as shape is good then you good as I dont really think fish have a 20/20 vision in the water. Also what seems to work good for me all season is grub looking nymphs. Also worth mentioning you cant really match the hatch with a lead fly so 1 bottom 1 top on the line as that works awesome. I might be wrong but match thr hatch is overthinking it but could depend on a fish though.
The first time I was at the San Juan many many years ago, I watched a ten-pound bow rise to midges for three days straight. Hundreds of rises. Nobody touched it in those three days.
I’ll stop dredging to fish a midge hatch if I see big enough fish rising, or if I’m bored. I’ll definitely match a hatch of any bigger bugs. It lets me choose which fish to target and pass by little ones.