MIDGES ARE TOUGH - Journal - Jan 28, 2013

MIDGES ARE TOUGH
I was first introduced to midges when I was fishing Michigan's Au Sable River. It was in the mid-60's and the regular mayfly hatches had been reduced to a scattering of Trico's in the early morning. We noticed that there were some very small insects buzzing around the surface of the water and the trout seemed to be feeding on them. A quick trip into Jack's Fly Shop in Roscommon produced some suitable imitations; small black flies that consisted of nothing more than a black thread body and a couple turns of hackle. As I recall they were tied on size 18 and 20 hooks.