I have no luck fishing on the lake here with flies. Today I was watching the trout feeding on the surface, but I couldn’t see what it was. Then I looked closer and there was millions of little specks on the water. Too small to even see when i’m standing up. I had to get on my knees and get the light just right to see them.
Are the fish feeding on these specks? If so. What would I use for a fly?
Gramps,
When I fish lakes and the itty bitty specks come out, I switch over to midge patterns. I find the Griffith gnat in size 24 does the trick.
Gramps,
Here is a secret method showed to me by no other than JC himself in a prior thread, and it should work wonders in the situation you described above. We will share it with you on grounds that you apply this with utmost responsibility....
Gramps…good chance they were actually on emergers.
Doesn’t seem like much of a meal for the fish. Do they suck in 100 at a time? I see a ring with bubbles, so I know they’re taking from the surface. Are they midges? I have no experience with midges.
I see nothing that big coming to the surface. Just these specs.
Gramps, See if you can catch anything with a very fine mesh hand net. But, it does sound like midges. Remember, you eat peanuts and popcorn; pretty small stuff. And, yes you can catch fish on midges. 8)
“I see a ring with bubbles”
That’s a classic emerger rise…do a google search there should be info on the various rise forms…but I do know Gramps you’re on your way to those Colorado rivers 
Yes , it’s likely midges % wise…[chironomids]… but could be other things e.g. a few days I was watching a Mayfly hatch
Pete,
They’ve been driving me crazy on a local tailwater the past couple weeks. I think they’re midges. Just tiny little specks flying around and landing on the water. I know the fish are eating them. I was fortunate enough to keep my eye on one darting around. It was dancing on the water. I suppose it was laying eggs. It was hovering a couple inches off the water surface and dipping down every couple seconds to just touch the water. This thing was tiny. There’s no way that I can possibly see to get a fly that small. My 22 adams looked huge next to these things.
Well, that little bug I was watching danced on the water too many times. About 3’ from where I was standing watching it, the poor thing’s luck ran out. Plop, a trout about 10" long gulped it down. There was a cloud of thost things flying around but I was able to keep my eye on a single one for about 10 seconds until the fish ate it.
I tried some midge nymphs but only got one decent strike and missed the hook set. I was so shocked that I finally got a strike after about 20 casts that I just missed the hook up.
Last Sunday, it was the same story, but I tied on, out of pure frustration, a number 12 Royal Coachman. Light was fading and it was all I could see to thread the tippet through and tie on. I cought two fish in about 15 minutes. One was a 12" rainbow and one was a 16" rainbow. Then it got too dark to see.
Last night, the coachman didn’t even warrant a passing glance.
A #14 yellow humpy got a few lookers but no takers. My #18 and #20 adams and some other #20 fly (BWO I think) didn’t draw even so much as a look.
I tried a couple ants and hoppers and no luck either.
They really like whatever those little specks are. I think they’re midges but I’m not a stream side biologist so I’m not sure. They must have a lot of nourishment for a little bug…
Jeff
i think, like all others, that they are midges.
i often have the same issues on my local lake.
and if i do not have something small enough for them, i throw a unweighted streamer at them :shock: but believe it or not this has worked wonders for me when the fish are eating the midges like that.
but most of the time i go with tiny (up in the 20’s) midges, or emergers that you cant even see, you just watch your leader, and if it twitches or you see a bulg by your leader/ fly line set the hook. remember it never hurts to hookset, they are free.
I never dreamed midges were that small. I’ve been using nothing but bushy flies. Mostly attractors. I’ve never tried fishing the lake with flies though. I just never looked that close to the water before. I don’t use any subsurface flies. I’ll get some small Griffith flies and see if I can catch something. I’ll have to get some tippet too. I don’t think i’ll squeeze my normal 5x on a fly that small.
I don’t see them flying around at all. Just laying on the water squirming around. Maybe I just can’t see them in the air?
I did read about rises. I could have swore it said if you see a ring with bubbles it a surface feed. Without the bubbles it’s subsurface. That’s wrong?
well, have tons of fun with 7-8x tippet! :lol:
Should be a good test for the Hexagraph. It’s showing up tomorrow.
I need to get a tiny net. This is kind of fun matching the bugs. They sure are small though.
Gramps,
In all seriousness, there is a thread floating around titled, "Chironomid (I think I finally spelled it write), check it out. A Chronomid is the larvae of what you see flying around in clouds. The majority of the fish are feeding on these below the surface. They start life down at the bottom of the lake bed or on the greenery that grows below. When the time comes they swim straight up (or at least they try), and this is when they become very vulnerable to fish. The ones that make it to the top become the midges that fly into your hair, and the others that see you as a buffet.
You will probably have a better chance of catching a fish if you learn how to fish a chromonid, although I too am just learning. This is just from what I’ve learned myself.
I ordered this. Good or bad?
Beadhead Zebra Midge
Color=Black
Size=18
1 Frog Hair Freshwater Tippet
Size=6X
5 Griffith Gnat
Size=22
5 Midges
Color=Black
Size=22
Gramps, you don’t live that far away any more. Those specks are Midges.
Those size 32’s I talk about are starting to make sence…right :lol:
Griffith is good (looks like a cluster of them) I also tie a real simple #28 with a tuft of antron out by the eye and out by the bend with a thread body (Purple works killer “?”) You can fish it as a Pupa, a Chironomid or a dry…killer fly.
How can a size 32 hook hold a trout? Not that i’d ever be able to thread it.
btw… I’m still in Ca.
sounds good to me!
maybe get some smaller sizes soon.
liek 24-26
Lets see if I can see the 22’s first. 