Spring Creek Midge

Posted on 12 December, 201312 December, 2013 by Håvard Eide

Hook: TMC 2457 #14
Thread: Sheer 14/0 green
Body: Sheer 14/0 Green, UTC ultra wire gold
Thorax: Hareline Hare’s Ear Plus Dark Olive
Wing: CDC

I get a lot of inspiration following various forums, facebook, planet.dryfly.me and other places. The other day Hammer Creek Fly Fishing posted a video on G+ with his version of the spring creek midge. I have had many bead colors in some jars for a time that I haven’t tied anything with, so I tied up a green variant with different bead colors to see how they turned out. The beads I bought at a craft store for next-to-nothing ( I always pop into the craft shops to see if I can find anything to tie with ), and I should have a lifetime supply available.

These midges are a great pattern to start out with, and once you get the hang of it you can produce a large number very quickly!

Black bead:

Red bead:

Orange/Brown bead:

Yellow Bead:

All colors gathered:

I have one jar for each color of the ones you see in this post:

Quill and Hackle

Hook: Mustad 94840 #18
Thread: Sheer 14/0 White
Tail: Soft hackle
Body: Hareline Turkey Biot Quills Lt. Olive
Wing: Whiting hackle

Yesterday I was out fishing for trout in a stream here in Oslo and this pattern got me some small trout, with a sage TXL-F #1 and 6x tippet it was a good saturday to go trout hunting! The mustad hook is really strong and solid for its sice (#18) and this pattern will occupy a row when I go for autumn fishing in september.

I don’t go for perfection in every fly I tie for fishing: if you look closely this one could have done with a better quill body, but when tying up a large batch I don’t really worry too much about small imperfections like this.

Rusty Suspender Midge

Posted on 15 May, 201315 May, 2013 by Håvard Eide cdc dai-riki danville midge sheer taimen

Hook: Dai-Riki 135 #16
Thread: Sheer 14/0 Brown
Body: Sheer 14/0 Brown, Danville Waxed Black wrap
Thorax: Taimen Beaver Dubbing Brown
Wing: 2xCDC feathers

Simple, but very effective pattern. Trying to tie some with a very slim body this year to see if that can’t give some results.

Adult Midge #22

Posted on 10 May, 201310 May, 2013 by Håvard Eide midge sheer taimen tmc whiting

Hook: TMC 100 #22
Thread: Sheer 14/0 Black
Thorax: Taimen Beaver Dubbing, black
Hackle: Whiting

The ice is just gone from most of the small lakes surronding Oslo, and yesterday, while having a look at one location, I observed several large midges flying around. So: time to fill up with a range of these midges to be ready for the weekend.

Tiny Adult Down-Wing Midge

Posted on 12 April, 201312 April, 2013 by Håvard Eide #30 gamakatsu midge tiny tmc varivas

If you read towards the end of the excellent book “Tying Small Flies” the following pattern shows up in the “32s!” chapter: Tiny Adult Down-Wing Midge.

I’ve tied some flies on the TMC #30 before, but I had a package of Varivas #30 Ultra Midge and Gamakatsu C12-BM #30 that I hadn’t tested out yet, so this ended up as a showcase between the three hooks.

All flies tied with Sheer 14/0 for body, CDC as wing tied in with TMC 16/0

TMC 518

I like the 518: it has a nice hook-gap and good strength in the hook that can deal with “some” force. The eye is small, but that is only to expect in these small hooks. For standard dry-fly in the #30/#32 this is my preferred choice.

Varivas 2300

First time I tie on the Varivas 2300. Compared to the 518 above this must be handled with a delicate hand! The hook is really light and bends with only the smallest amount of force. On the positive side: the hook-gap is slightly larger than on the 518. I have not fished this yet, but my initial thought is that I would trust the 518 over this hook, but that is to be seen later this summer.

Gamakatsu C12-BM

It is barbless, curved and has a extra large eye. The feel of the hook is now better again: it feels strong and can deal with some force. The extra large eye makes this a better choice for attaching it with cold fingers when you are out next to the river.

The hooks

All hooks together to show the big difference in eye size:

The packages together with their respective midges on top:

The pattern itself is easy to tie in on these small hooks. The 518 is still my favourite, but the Gamakatsu is a very good runner-up after this round, so I will experiment some more with that hook before the summer (it is also the only barbless I have seen in this size)!

Midge

Spring Creek Midge

Quill and Hackle

Rusty Suspender Midge

Adult Midge #22