After you’re done snickering about this question please try and give me an answer. HA! Ha!
Aside from actually looking at emerging midges, what colors would you use for their shucks.
For Example:
Olive shuck for olive midge;
brown shuck for brown midges, but;
what color would you use for grey and black?
Just curious. I was going to tie some and never really gave it much thought.
Bruce
ive tied some with a strand on pearl krystal flash for a shuck
white, amber, black, brown antron or zlon
grizzly hackle fibers work also
heres some fotos to look at
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=midge+shuck+&form=QBIR&qs=n&sk=#
Hmmm…I think I have seen that 3rd. one, in the first link, somewhere before…
http://planettrout.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/being-diptera/
I use KF…a lot
PT/TB
My favorite color is an amber shuck. Several years ago there was an article in one of the flyfishing mags dealing with midges on the Provo River in Utah and the overall consensus was that amber was the most prevalent color of natural exoskeletons being shed. I also tie a few with a light grey shuck. I don’t usually use antron or zelon for a shuck, rather a pinch of dubbing trimmed at an angle. The dubbing I prefer for shucks is Simi Seal because it contains a spectrum of colors rather than being all one color as is the case with zelon or other shuck materials.
Here are a couple of my favorite midge emerger patterns:
Kelly.
Thanks for the very good ideas and links. My mind went blank when I began to consider shucks on midges.
I’m with Kelly. I use an amber seal (color 250 at http://www.feathersmc.com/products/Seal%20Dubbing ) , really sparse for the shucks on emergers. The fish don’t seem to mind that they are all the same color. transparency of the shuck seems to bee the key, at least for the flies I use.
REE
Kelly: What are you using for the wing cases on those midges–I like them.
Ron: Is that real sea fur?
Lastchance, Yes it is real seal. Nice long fibers and some serious translucency. I tried a few emergers with shucks made from Brown Olive (#41) and Dark Golden Olive (#208) and they look really good too. About twice a year I order the gram size bags of the colors I use a lot for wet flies and spiders. A little of that stuff goes a long ways, even when dubbing complete wet fly or Atlantic Salmon fly bodies.
REE
You won’t believe me when I tell you, but I use electronics equipment packing foam; you know, the stuff that comes wrapped around your new phone, I-Pod, or even the new television. Anyway, I like to use the stuff that’s about 1/16th-inch thick. Hope that helps.
Kelly.