The Midge: The Bug of the Month

So we have reached the end of 2023. For our December Bug of the Month, we have returned to the midge. Seems like the midge gets a lot of love in December and January. And for good reason. While midges are in our rivers year-round, their prominence as a food source in the winter months cannot be ignored.

The Lowdown on the Midge Life Cycle

Unlike some other insect species that may take a year or so to evolve, midges develop very quickly. The midge has a very short life cycle, moving from larva-pupae-adult in just a few weeks.  Because of this rapid maturation, it’s important to be dialed in so you can adjust for depth, weight, and pattern selection. In the winter months with midges, paying attention to the lifecycle becomes much more crucial for success. 

The Midge: Larva Stage

As Phil Tereyla says, “Focusing on what stage the midge is in is key. When they’re on larva, they’re on larva. You may need to make the change, though, and dial in to pupa and emerger stages.”

Larva can range in size from the very small 24 and 26s in December and January. When they are in the larva stage, midges are found toward the bottom of the river, clinging to rocks or sticks, or drifting through the water. If you seine the river, you’ll see small, worm-like larva wriggling in your seining net. 

Pupa Stage

In the pupa stage, midges begin to develop legs, wings, and gills. When they shed their larval sheath, they begin their journey to the surface. As they move up from the bottom of the river, they develop a small air bubble. Because midges are not great swimmers — they are a flying insect, after all — they are very vulnerable in this stage.  Fish will become increasingly opportunistic to eat as midges make their way to the surface.

It’s important for anglers to adjust for depth. You may find that you need to see if fish are feeding on larva closer to the bottom or on pupae higher in the feeding column.

An early morning rig may have larva patterns fished deep and then, as the day – and water — warms up, switching it up to a larva pattern as your first bug with a pupae pattern (or two) trailing can be productive. 

Before it becomes an adult, the pupae may struggle a bit to break through the surface. Because of that, it’s helpful to think of the pupae stage in two parts – emerging and surface emergers. Anglers can have great success by drifting the emerging pupae pattern just a few inches beneath the surface in the foam. I, personally, like to use a larger dry (maybe a Griffith’s Gnat or BWO), and use a small dab of Henry’s Sinket to drop the midge emerger beneath the surface.

Greg Blessing’s approach is to begin the morning fishing three midge patterns: zebra, mercury, and the Black Beauty.

As the water temps increase, Blessing may switch out the Black Beauty for a Top Secret, or for Jon Easdon’s Blindside Midge, or even change to his own Purple Haze. “The Purple Haze blurs the line between a blue wing and a midge. Sort of a cross-over. And fish will hit it on the swing.”

Adult Stage

As the midge shucks its pupae sheath and becomes an adult, it will sit on the surface to dry its wings.  

Interestingly, often times there can be good dry fly fishing in the winter because of these adult midges. You might see a whole bunch of midges and midge clusters when the conditions are right.

Phil says, when there are midges on the surface, “I’ll skate my midge over the surface rather than always present it as a dead drift. A little motion can put your bug on display and make it stand out from another midge or midge clusters on the water.”

Juan Ramirez emphasizes that it is important to study the rise.  If you’re seeing the nose and mouth, the fish are probably feeding on the surface. But when you see the dorsal fin, or the back of the fish, breaking the surface, they are feeding just below the surface.  “Their momentum may be carrying the fish up to the surface after they have eaten.  Or you might just see a dimple on the surface rather than a nose and lips.”

As usual, reading the water is super important.  Fish won’t be using a lot of energy and they’ll stay in slower, deeper water.  The winter months are a great time to perfect your presentation. Fish will not move too far to eat because of their lower metabolism with the winter doldrums, so a slower drift through a deeper run is the ticket. 

A key to fishing with midges is getting size and silhouette right.  Of course, that is not unique to midges. In the winter months, though, when fish may be less aggressive and more selective, size and silhouette will be crucial to getting a take.

The take may be very subtle since it is not an aggressive strike. 

As Greg Blessing says, “if you can detect a strike in the winter on small bugs, you’ll be able to detect a more aggressive take later in the season. Fishing the winter months improves your fishing for the rest of the year.”

Quick Tips for Fishing the Midge

• Study the rise … what are you seeing?  Head and mouth?  Or back and tail? You’ll see the nose when the fish are eating on the surface.
• Dimple on the water? Fish are eating an emerger subsurface.  You may see their back and tail as their momentum breaks the surface. Anglers often mistake this for them eating on the surface. Harder to fish. Have to fish right below surface.  Good patterns to use are the Top Secret or the Mercury Midge with tungsten bead. 
• Start from fishing deep and change depth to fish the surface.  Fish that in-between portion.
• Where are the fish?  In the morning, fish it deep with more weight. The smaller the better, usually. 
• Switch up some patterns. Show ‘em something different.  Different profile.  Different look.
• Tailwaters – standard issue midges in 22, 24, 26. Later on in the winter and into the spring you might see 18, 20.  Have to match sizes and species.  Even fish some small chironomids!  At the Dream Stream in early spring, you see some chironomids getting moved out of the reservoir. 
• Have to have the knowledge of midge behavior.  Cold water, they are sitting deeper and not eating too frequently or too much. As the water warms, fish emergers at mid-column and higher up.
• Patterns:  Money Midge (larva), Flux Capacitor (larvae/ emerger), Pale Ale (longer body, clear slim rib, marker on top to look) a lot of them in 11mile canyon; imitates a riffle beetle. Slim Rib Ninja Midge.  Check out the Juan Ramirez YouTube Channel.

Final thoughts

Winter fly fishing poses challenges, for sure, but when you get dialed in to midge behavior and the fish behavior that follows, tough conditions can be productive days. Want to step up your winter fly fishing game? Sign up for our Winter Fly Fishing class and get some first-hand experience!

Subscribe to our newsletter, subscribe to our YouTube Channel, watch this blog space, and come into the Shop to talk with our expert retail staff about winter fly fishing and midge magic.