Winter midge surface action!

Bambooflyguy

Bambooflyguy

Legend
Yesterday and today I fished a local lake 13 miles from my house……3/5 yesterday sight casting a small soft hackle midge and 2/2 today with a small para loop midge emerger! Making a good cast and watching a head come up and eat the fly is as rewarding as a 30 fish day anytime! Especially working hard for those fish…..in the cold temps on top of that……(few hours each day)
 
Bambooflyguy said:
Yesterday and today I fished a local lake 13 miles from my house……3/5 yesterday sight casting a small soft hackle midge and 2/2 today with a small para loop midge emerger! Making a good cast and watching a head come up and eat the fly is as rewarding as a 30 fish day anytime! Especially working hard for those fish…..in the cold temps on top of that……(few hours each day)
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x2...this winter have found it more rewarding to sight cast #20 BWO Dun's to holding fish at my local river in the hopes of a take or two then get numerous takes on nymphs.
6.5X has been the answer to inducing those takes while providing a maybe one in three chance of playing an 18" bow into the net.
 
You are a better man and fisherman than me. I get shuddering cold shakes just reading your posts about your successes.

👍👍👍
 
great job getting out. I set up a row boat this spring. I think I'll start getting it ready for some winter fishing!
 
I tied some new midge emergers today….reading the majority of rise forms, either just a swirl or sometimes a dorsal fin. I tested my new flies in a glass of water….looked pretty good! Now I need another break in the weather……but it’s still about the cast!
 
Grifiths knat, small soft hackles…..observe the color of midges in your lakes. What works for some lakes, might be a bust in others, the fish will decide!
 
Matt B said:

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^my number one is variants of this. I like a white foam strip for the back.

And then also little things along these lines, and sometimes sparkly is good, not necessarily this small:
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Way back in the day I saw Paul Lasha absolutely killing fish on a eastern WA lake using his Raccoon pattern.
It is one of my favorites. The foam back makes them much more durable. besides white, I've had good luck with black, tan, gray, orange and red backs on them.
A few after a fun day on a west side lake.
SF

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Stonedfish said:
Way back in the day I saw Paul Lasha absolutely killing fish on a eastern WA lake using his Raccoon pattern.
It is one of my favorites. The foam back makes them much more durable. besides white, I've had good luck with black, tan, gray, orange and red backs on them.
SF
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It's still a killer fly on Eastern WA lakes, even that giant cataract lake.
 
Buzzy said:
It's still a killer fly on Eastern WA lakes, even that giant cataract lake.
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“Killer fly” on about 1 outing in 25 maybe! Especially there!
It does work, but I have found it pretty rare for fish to want it very consistently over the course of a day. But boy oh boy when that happens it can be a day to remember.

I have spent a lot of time chasing scattered rise rings where maybe I catch a fish or two as the result. I think it’s less the pattern with that than that it’s just a tough game.
 
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