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Winter Time Is Midge Time When
Fly Fishing For Trout
by Scott Mcduffee
 Let's
face it, we dream in Technicolor of size 10 green drake
hatches or Hexagenia Limbata as big as beavers - but the
reality is Winter Time Is Midge Time. Often the only
bugs on the frigid water are so small; they challenge
most anglers to consider LASIK. And as you already know,
much of the eating is under the surface.
At a fly-tying class, I once heard a locally famous fly
tier named Pops quip something along the line of "my
second best fly tying material supplier is Hobby Lobby".
This, of course, assumes that Blue Heron Fly Shop where
we were sitting is his "first best". This guy is also
well known for the quote "it ain't no use, if it ain't
chartreuse" but that, as they say, is another story.
Armed with this nugget of wisdom, I scoured every
section of Hobby Lobby. Eureka! Great little wires for
tying "ribs" of nymphs, wonderful foam sheets for
terrestrials, assorted yarn varieties for ‘buggers, and
beads, beads, beads! All this is available at a fraction
of the cost of their fly-shop counterparts. Bingo!
From this magnificent Wall-O'-Beads, I found some fine
little metal ones in a small pinky-sized cylinder. They
came in a variety of colors like olive, purple, copper,
and brown. Many had fancy names like Brown Iris Metallic
Beads (the one I took home) and numerous others.
Perfect. We ARE talking tiny here. Just the right size
to barely squeeze on to barb-less size 20 hooks and be
proportionate.
Armed with these at my fly tying station, I began to
experiment. If you have ever collected and looked at
tiny water bugs, you will note their appendages and
segmentations are not distinct unless under a
microscope. So, I combined the little bead heads with
many simple body materials trying to find a
simple-to-tie solution. I wanted to approximately match
the hatch from recent trips to the stream. I finally
boiled it down to dyed goose biots. I had originally
experimented with biots to tie Prince Nymphs at a much
larger scale and certainly a different application. My
favorite biot color is olive, and man, what a great
subtle segmented body biots make. Ultimately, I designed
Duff's Bead/Biot Midge - perfect for fishing Winter's
cold waters. More than just this emerger, I developed a
powerful One-Two Punch combination that has proven
itself over and over in many tailraces throughout Texas
and Oklahoma.
 Though
the tiny bead/biot midge is a killer as a dropper below
a larger nymph, the One-Two Punch consists of a dropper
below a similar looking dry. Before I give you the
recipe, let me describe the simplicity of these two
flies. The dry fly is: olive thread, olive biot, and
olive/gray hackle on a size twenty barb-less hook. The
dropper, often fished just 6 inches below the dry, is:
olive thread, olive biot, and metallic bead on a size
twenty barb-less hook. Simple, right? It's really easy
to tie too. But don't let that make you feel guilty when
you when you catch numerous trout with it.
Duff's Dry Midge - Olive
Materials -
* Hook: Size 20 dry
* Thread: Olive 8/0
* Body: Goose Biot dyed olive
* Hackle: Olive/Gray sized to match hook gap
* Head: Olive Thread
Technique - Crush barb, put hook in vise, jamb knot
thread and wrap back to bend, tie in point of biot, wrap
thread forward, spiral biot forward leaving segmentation
and tie down with half hitch, tie in single hackle, trim
base, wrap hackle and tie off, whip finish forming head,
add cement.
Duff's Bead/Biot Midge - Olive
Materials -
* Hook: Size 20 dry or scud/nymph
* Thread: Olive 8/0
* Body: Goose Biot dyed olive
* Head: Brown Iris Bead
Technique - Crush barb, place bead head on hook, put
hook in vise, jamb knot thread and wrap back to bend,
tie in point of biot, wrap thread forward, spiral biot
forward leaving segmentation and tie down with half
hitch (optional - tie in a few strands of crystal flash
as a wing and clip close), whip finish behind bead head,
add cement.
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