When you midge fish

[ducksterman]

When you are fishing stillwater for trout and using midges.....

Do you always anchor?
When you do anchor do you double anchor?
How do you decide at what depth to fish?

[DShock]

Ducksterman,
Here is some Midge info;http://www.uky.edu/~agrdanny/flyfish/faq/faq-9.htm
I never fished Midges in stillwater, but I don't see why you would have to anchor, if there is little or no wind.
Doug

[Grizzly Wulff]

When midges/chironomids hatch they move vertically in the water column at a very slow pace. Drifting around in a float tube or boat tends to drag the little buggers through the water, so conventional wisdom says "anchor". I usually find that a single anchor in most situations works fine.

I normally use a two fly rig and set the bottom fly about 6 inches off the bottom, or just above the weed bed, and the second fly about 9 inches above the first one.

So, "how do you know where 6 inches off the bottom is", you ask? I use this handy/dandy depth finder.


The parts consist of an alligator clip (local electronic parts store), a piece of mono, a small, sliding sinker, and two split shot.

To get the depth, attach to bottom fly and lower it into the water. When it hits bottom, lift it about 6 inches, and attach your indicator. Retrieve depth finder and remove. As long as you stay anchored in the same spot you won't have to recalibrate your depth. If you move, check depth again, and readjust.

[nb_ken]

I've been fishing stillwater more and more the last few years and the one aspect of that I can't seem to get a handle on is chironomid fishing.

Dan mentioned that he fishes 6" or so from the bottom. What's your line/leader/indicator setup look like. I can't imagine working a fly line with more than 10-15' of leader, but if that's what it takes... Is that what it takes?

Any info from experienced midge fisherman would be appriciated. Seems like a good way to fish, but I can't get my mind wrapped around the setup.

[Grizzly Wulff]

Dan mentioned that he fishes 6" or so from the bottom. What's your line/leader/indicator setup look like. I can't imagine working a fly line with more than 10-15' of leader, but if that's what it takes... Is that what it takes?

I normally don't fish chironomids deeper than 10 to 12 feet due partly to the problem of landing a fish when you've got a 9 foot rod with an indicator attached above 12 feet of leader/tippet. Unless you have a long handled net, it's tough to get the beasty in the tube.

My typical setup for chironomids is as follows: Ten feet of 2 or 3X fluoro off a floating line. I don't use tapered leaders as I want the rig to sink quickly and to hang straight.

I will then add 18 inches of 3 or 4X using a double surgeons knot and leaving an 8 inch tag end of the 2/3X. The rig looks like this:



I'll tie the top fly off the tag, and the bottom fly about 12 inches below the top fly.

If the water is smooth I will do a slow 3 to 4 inch strip every 2 to 3 min., if it's a little choppy I'll just let the water action move the flies.

Using this setup in late April and early May I caught more than 60 Lahotan Cutthroats on Pyramid Lake ranging from 15 to 31 inches and up to 10.5 lbs.

[Jayatwork]

I am usually fishing from a float tube with no anchor. If it gets real windy it's a problem but most of the time works fine. Most of the time I use a very slooow retrieve or just let it sit and give a slight twitch once in awhile.

I find the depth similarly to Grizz. Only I just clip my hemostats to the bottom fly for my "sounder".

I have seen reference to some quick release type indicators that allow you to fish a very long leader with an indicator and still land fish. I haven't found these locally however.

[sagefisher]

Ducksterman,

While Chronnie fishing isn't my first choice, sometimes it is the only game on the lake if you want to catch a fish.

I bring two anchors with me and if I have to set anchor then I usually use both. I do that so my pontoon boat or my WaterMaster raft won't pivot around the anchor as the winds gently blow and swirl around. I set one anchor of the right side, behind me and play out most of the line (I have 30 feet on each anchor). Then I drop my second anchor off my left side, behind me and play out a little line as I bring in some line from the other anchor. When I am about in the middle then I tie off the lines. Unless you catch an absolute hog of a fish you will be able to keep the fish to the front of the boat and away from the anchor lines.

Have fun fishing.

Larry ---sagefisher---

[Gnu Bee Flyer]

I double anchor my boat or single anchor the pontoon. There is always wind. Always! I use a SA floating line with a sink tip . The tip is 10feet long I use the depth sounder or a plumb bob to find the depth. Depending on the depth I add enough mono to reach about 16 inches off the bottom. Casts need only be long enough to get the line out about 30 or 40 feet from the boat. I count down 15 seconds which is enough for my 10 feet of line to sink, then I just twitch the line every so often 0r a slow hand twist retrieve for 5 twists then a 5 second pause then repeat till the line is near the boat. Re-cast and start over. I use weighted flies for this. I tie the fly on with a perfection loop Which I think makes a better movement for the fly.

Sometimes I just lower the line down without casting and do a dead slow retreive . Hits happen when the fly nears the boat.

When using my toon I avoid using my flippers while anchored, I believe it scares the fish. I have even double anchored my toon to avoid using the flippers.

PS I bought the adjustable force fins and just hate them. I sold them cheap to a buddy. He loves them. Go figure.

[nb_ken]

Aha, so there's another method I'd considered, but couldn't figure out the specifics.

Sink tip + leader would get me down deeper, but I wouldn't know where -- or if -- to put an indicator. Any tips?

This is great info. Thanks folks.

BTW, what's there to hate about adjustable Force Fins? I'm in the "love'em" category. (When I got to the lake the other day, found out I'd forgotten my boots. Just snugged up the FFs and into the lake I went in my stocking foot waders.)

[Garic]

midge or "buzzer" fishing over this side of the water is usually done from a drifting boat on large still waters. the method involves casting in front of the drift and retreiving at the same speed or very sightly faster than the boat is drifting, this way you still have a slow retreive and also cover more water and so more fish. if it is a bit too fast a drift I usually deploy a drogue (parachute) over the rear of the boat to slow things down a bit. Hope this helps