Trip Report: Rainy Midges

After tying flies non-stop for the last week I took a break this afternoon and headed to a stream on my way home from work. I planned to fish a skittering caddis downstream, then fish with a quill bodied mayfly back to the car. Fish were eating on top when I arrived on stream around 330pm.

 I quickly began tying into little brown trout. I had a few 12+ inchers swipe at the fly but no connections. This was the biggest fish I landed while headed downstream.

I tried a number of flies on my way upstream to no avail. They were frightened by the San Juan worm and had no interest in a scud. I noticed clouds of tiny little pale yellow midges and tied on a size 18 rusty zebra midge. That was the ticket!

With cloudy skies I was able to watch these fish swim directly to the midge! At a few points it rained lightly which didn't seem to impact the fishing. During clear, sunny conditions this stream is really difficulty to fish due to shallow water and easily spooked fish.

 Here you can see the midge poking into the top snout of this speckled specimen. They nibbled on the fly gently enough that I missed or only briefly hooked probably twice as many as I landed.

For perspective the reel seat and grip on this fly rod is 10 3/4 inches long. Most of the fish caught today were around 10-12 inches with the biggest around 15 inches. By 630pm around two dozen came to hand. It was nice to get out for a quick afternoon outing since the vise continues to call!