Midge

Picking Confidence Patterns: Coming soon

Midges are in every lake and stream that has fish, with lakes holding the larger species. At high elevation lakes, they may even be only insect life present, so it is always good to have a couple imitations in you box. Midges are in the order Diptera; also know as true flies. They are called “true” flies because they posses a single pair of wings. (Diptera is from the Greek: di means two and petron meaning wing.)

Midges hatch year round, and if you can find open water, you may even come across rising trout in the winter eating newly hatched insects (count your lucky stars if you run into this). As the season progress, they gradually get bigger, but during the summer months, their importance tends to take a back seat because of the availability of other larger and more numerous insects. When heading to the high country, you should always have some imitations in your box. Also, if nothing else seems to be working, throwing a midge imitation may turn your day around. As they are always present, and when trout are feeding opportunistically between hatches, they are still eating midges.

This is the underside of a newly hatched adult

A good exaple of the typical larva. Notice the segmented body.

This pupa is moments from hatching an turning into an adult.

Lifecycle

There are four stages in the life cycle: egg; larvae; pupa; adult. A clump of eggs laid by and single adult midge may contain up to 3,000 eggs. Larva can hatch from the eggs in several days to one week, depending on conditions. The larval stage can take from 2 to 7 weeks. Larvae then build cocoons or use the harden skin developed in the last larva stage to transform into pupa. After approximately 3 days, pupa actively swim to the surface, and adults emerge. Adults mate in swarms soon after emerging. Adults do not feed and only live for 3 to 5 days. During prime summer conditions, the entire life cycle from egg to adult can be completed in 2 to 3 weeks.

Recommended Flies - Coming soon