It felt like early winter out there today in Montana. The morning air temperature was around 40° and it got a little bit higher, but not much. Almost no bugs. I threw jig streamers again, hoping to get another strong morning, but the fish did not cooperate. The water temp had dropped about 15 degrees
Category: Midges
Roger Hill’s Stillborn Midge and ‘The Mighty Midge’
Midge emergers did well for me during a fun over-nighter at the Deerfield and Farmington (here). In fact, two patterns absolutely crushed it. At tailwaters, midges hatch year-round. They’re important bugs for trout, particularly when there isn’t a heavy hatch of something else happening. At the Deerfield, a size 24 Roger Hill’s Stillborn Midge was
At the Bench: Al’s Rat and the Ginger Wingless Flymph
As water temperatures rise, flows normalize and trout face more pressure, my baseline strategy will be to fish caddis and midge patterns. I’ve really enjoyed chucking streamers (prior post here) and will keep doing so for as long as I can, such as at dawn and on rainy days. But, my gut says that the
At the Vise: Top Secret Midge and Red Brassie
I’ve been organizing my fly boxes and re-ordering my line-ups (how I organize my “starters,” “back ups” and “in reserve” flies here). I’ve demoted a bunch of flies to “off the team.” There were probably a few dozen of them, experimental flies that just never worked. I’ve stripped them down to bare metal and will