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It's mid April, and Howard and myself have just had a day's fishing in the Lake District on one of the rivers in Cumbria. It's 'up and at 'em' time and fish are rising in the tail of the pool. Spring olives are coming off, but our imitations are constantly ignored; the fish are pre-occupied with small black midges. It is time to get serious. Serious means seriously small. On goes one of our special midge imitations, this one we have christened the Spent Midge. It is tied on a size 22 hook.

That should match the hatch, but that's only the half of it - presentation has to be perfect, as a straight forward overhead cast will allow drag to set in almost immediately, and that overhanging tree on the far bank makes the cast even more difficult. A type of combination cast 'the parachute reach mend' is performed. This piles up the leader in line with the fish and keeps the fly line upstream of the fish's lie. The fly alights on the surface and drifts over the fish. The water is crystal clear, so with the aid of Polaroid's our quarry is clearly visible. No take. Another cast. Again nothing. Too much on the menu, we think. Third cast, perfect drift. Bingo! Up comes the heavily spotted brown and sips in the offering. Howard's 7X tippet takes the strain as his ultra-light weight rod bends to the handle. Two minutes later a deep 48cm brown nestles in my net, we estimate it to be close on 3lb. After holding it in the current for a short while it recovers and swims off, as do all our fish.

After reading Stuart Crofts and David Calvert's excellent article on river midge fishing (June '98) we felt something on the same subject regarding our methods and experiences would be of interest to readers.

The mighty midge, the imitative stillwater anglers 'bread and butter' fly, is a fish-catcher supreme, but how many river fly-fishers use this brilliant fly in its various stages especially in micro-sizes . How many occasions do we go to the river bank and see fish rising. The usual train of thought is: what are they feeding on? Olives, pale wateries, spurwings? But there is no sign of any of these species. Experience through many similar occasions has now taught us to always take a closer look, and very often the fish can be seen to be 'midging'.

So often does this feeding pattern occur, that Howard and myself have devised a series of patterns, leaders and techniques to fish the midge; some new, some stolen, and some just variations on a theme.

Actual tackle for midge fishing has got to be in the light to ultra-light category. Anything heavier than a four-weight is totally unsuitable, considering we might be using .003 in. tippets. Our fly rods range from a 0-weight and up to a maximum 4-weight, and are of a medium action. Reels are personal preference, but one with a light drag comes in handy, especially when there is two or three pounds of fighting brown attached to your 24 or 26 Midge imitation.

After many years of experimenting with leader set ups we have now settled for two. We enjoy building them to suit, but know some anglers prefer knotless tapered leaders; it all comes down to personal preference.

The first and longest is 12 feet long and comprises of varying lengths of monofilament. This one is used when the fish are up on the top or near the top. It turns over with tiny flies and, being four yards in length, allows for a good, drag-free drift.

The second leader is slightly shorter and comprises of fewer sections of nylon and is used when fishing sub-surface or when using a dry and sub-surface fly together. A 24-inch piece of 0.17 in. mono is Superglue spliced into the end of the fly line and at the other end goes a 3/4 in. perfection loop. With the Superglue splice an almost perfect flyline/leader joint is achieved without the use of a knot, and when fitted correctly it will not come apart. The butt end of the leader is also fitted with a perfection loop, therefore allowing for a loop-to-loop connection. The tippet section again is attached loop-to-loop. Perfection loops in the tippet sections do not affect the performance of the leader, being almost invisible in the small diameter monofilament. The advantage of this method means tippet length and diameter can be increased or decreased according to conditions.

Flies for midge fishing are a totally uncomplicated affair. Being so small, large amounts of materials and intricate details cannot be integrated into midge patterns. The only complication is tying on the very small hooks, but with practice this is soon overcome. There are a number of excellent hooks on the market that can be used for tying small patterns, notably: Partridge Vince Marinaro, Tiemco 101, 100, 200R and Mustad 80100 range. Another excellent hook was the Airflo Rising Emerger in sizes 20-24, but these are no longer available. A similar hook is now made by Daiichi, and is also known as the 'rising emerger', but this could mean a phone call to the U.S because - as far as I know - no one in the U.K carries the make.

Materials for midge imitations are to be found in your everyday fly-tying kit. Maybe a few useful additions would be small diameter tying thread. Danvilles Spiderweb or Uni-thread Trico being our choice. Midge bobbin holders with silks pre-wound on sewing machine bobbins are a great help for tying small patterns. Everything is geared to creating ultra-slim patterns and preventing any bulk. Small amounts of lead (wine-bottle or ultra-fine Jan Siman square lead) can be added to sub-surface patterns to take them under. Another method is to add split-shot (No. 8s or 10s) to the tippet.

Paramidge
Hook: Size 20-26.
Body: Silk to match natural.
Hackle: Smallest genetic.
Hackle post: Poly Yarn or foam (for visibility).

Spent or Dead Midge
Hook: Size 20-28.
Body: Silk to match.
Tail: A few strands of Antron.
Thorax: Dubbing to match body.
Wings: White or grey Poly Yarn.

Dry Midge (1)
Hook: Size 20-26.
Body: Muskrat.
Hackle: Grizzle (clipped underneath).

Dry Midge (2)
Hook: Size 20-26.
Body: Fine dubbing.
Hackle: Palmered medium dun.

Shuttlecock Buzzer
Hook: Size 20-26.
Body: Silk, fine dubbing, or herl.
Head & Thorax: C.D.C.

Pupa (1)
Hook: Size 20-26.
Body: Silk or fine dubbing (mole, beaver, muskrat).
Rib: Clear polythene (builder's visqueen) cut to 1.5 mm and then stretched.
Thorax: As body.

Pupa (2) (Gary Borger pattern)
Hook: Size 20-26.
Body: Antron, chopped fine.
Thorax: Antron (longer fibres), Velcro to bend of hook.

Paramidge
Hook: Size 20-28 Curved Midge hook.
Thread: Spiderweb.
Abdomen: Black ultra-chenille.
Wing: Tiemo Aero wing - white.
Parachute Post: Tag end of the abdomen.
Hackle: Genetic black cock cape (neck).
Thorax: Fine black dubbing plus a dubbed band of orangey red.
To form the fine taper to the abdomen, light the end of the chenille, allow to burn for a split second, blow out and pull between finger and thumb - this extrudes the core of the chenille producing a fine, tapering abdomen, then trim to length.

Dry & Pupa Rig
A Griffiths Gnat or Paramidge is tied on to the tippet, then 12 - 24 inches of tippet material is tied to the hook-bend of this first fly with tucked blood-knot. A Pupa is then tied to the end of this length of monofilament. Fish have two choices - the surface fly or the Pupa. Takes to the Pupa are indicated by the surface fly pausing on its drift, or shooting under.

Double Pupa or Nymph Rig
A Pupa is tied to the tippet and then a second tippet is tied on using the same hook eye. A secondPupa then tied on to the end of this length. Split-shot can be added to take flies down.

Indicator Rig
A small piece (1/2 - 3/4 in.) of fly-line (with the core-removed) is slid up the leader and kept in position over a blood-knot. (Usually the first blood knot, on the tippet). This is an excellent way of fishing Pupae in slow-moving water.

Article taken from July/August 1999 issue of Fly Fishing & Fly Tying.
Full details of the tying of the aero wing midge, leader and pupa rig used by authors can be found in this issue.