WINTER MIDGES

I am a luck fly fisherman. I live in Yellowstone Country, and I fish the waters surrounding the Park more the 150 days per year. Most fly fishers are not clued into midge fishing, which is too bad. Year in and year out, midge activity provides the area’s finest dry-fly fishing, and it happens over a longer period of time than any other insect emergence.

Perfect winter midge weather on the Madison River.

The short introduction above is part of an article I’ve written for the April-May 2021 issue of Fly Fisherman Magazine. This article discusses successful strategies for Yellowstone’s longest hatch, winter midges.

Please continue reading my article by subscribing to Fly Fisherman online (subscription link at top of page) or pick one up at your nearest fly fish shop, sporting good store, or grocery store around the country. Or if you prefer, you can download the Fly Fisherman app on your smart phone and subscribe there to receive Fly Fisherman news digitally.

Below are a few photos of fishing Yellowstone’s longest hatch. As always, thank you for your continued interest in Yellowstone Country and Fly Fishing with Craig Mathews. Hope to see you in Yellowstone country!

Sneaking on trout rising to midges.

Madison rainbow trout on Zelon Midge.

Winter midge pupae shucks.

Note shucks on emerging midges.

Spring creek rainbow taking midge pupa in drift.

Why Do I Fish?

I met John Voelker, AKA Robert Traver, in the mid 1970’s. At that time he was a retired State of Michigan Supreme Court Justice, distinguished attorney and fly-fishing author. I was a Michigan policeman, soon to become the new Police Chief of West Yellowstone, Montana.

John’s books hold a place of honor in my library. Books like; “Trout Madness” and “Trout Magic”. So does his “Testament of a Fisherman”. In these crazy times it seems everything runs faster: grow your business, consume more, buy more, get the biggest-fastest computers-UTVs and ATVs so you can ride to the tops of the wildest-steepest mountains. We’re buried in information and misinformation that we devour from our cell phones and devices. I admit, I fish to get most of the taste of it out of my mouth.

John and I communicated back then thru the US Mail trading weekly fishing reports, fly patterns and criminal court news from Yellowstone. I was excited to find a couple beaver ponds in Yellowstone Park that held Labrador size brook trout, and since John always told me he wanted to catch a 4 pound brookie on a fly I invited him to come to Yellowstone for a week of fishing. I’ll never forget his letter in response, “With gasoline approaching the price of good bourbon, and because I’m afraid of flying, please send photos”. I sent John several big brook trout pictures that year. Sadly a few years later John passed away.  I had many of his letters and Christmas Cards in my collection and the best place for them, I figured, was to donate them to Montana State University Library’s Angling Collection where they are to this day.

Do me, your kids and grandkids a huge favor. If you love Yellowstone. If you enjoy the wildlife-wild places-wild and native trout PLEASE read the attached then donate whatever you can to the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. The Park and surrounding ecosystem and its wild inhabitants need our help NOW more than ever before. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your kids and grandkids will thank you too.

If you want to fish dry-flies you’d better get to Yellowstone country, quick!

PMB and BWO on the Madison.

It has been 2 decades since we’ve seen such incredible early season dry-fly fishing here. Pale Morning Dun, Baetis (BWO) and Green Drake mayflies continue to emerge in number on rivers like the Henry’s Fork and Madison. Big trout rising to their hatches, best on cool-rainy days, and we’ve seen lots of those lately.

Caddis mating swarm along the river.

Evening caddis activity is cranking up on the Madison, and salmon flies are showing up above Wolf Creek as well. Make sure you play the short video showing an evening caddis mating swarm so common now along the river from Ennis, Montana to Earthquake Lake.

PMD and Hydropsyhe Caddis

My fishing buddy, Yvon Chouinard, is here and we’ve had some incredible fishing this week. I got Yvon off his fishing soft hackles kick, and back to fishing dry flies when every big fish in the river was rising to emerging mayflies during rain and hail storms last Monday and Tuesday.

Yvon scores a nice Rainbow.

Last Wednesday my good friend and fishing partner Terry, my wife Jackie and I drove into the Park to fish. While we waited for a rain storm to move in and get the PMD mayflies emerging in number we hiked along the river to revisit an old poacher’s cabin, then an Indian hunting pit I’d located years before. You never know what you’ll find hiking along our area rivers.

Ruins of an old poacher’s cabin.

Indian hunting pits along the river.

Once the PMDs rolled off we had nonstop dry fly fishing to big rising brown trout for 2 hours before the sun peaked out and the PMDs shut off for the day.

It is important to remember the 3 clues to Caddis emergences and trout rising to them on rivers as John and I wrote about in our little “Fishing Yellowstone Hatches”. The first, trout are seen leaping out of the water as trout chase emerging Caddis pupae and their momentum carries them out of the water.

The second clue is that there are NO insects on the water. Adult Caddis are very difficult to see drifting on the surface.

The third clue is that most of the feeding fish are bulging and splashing in fast water sections of the river when the trout take the pupae from the surface and turn downward. In slower water you will see quiet dimples and porpoise rolls or tails breaking the surface.

If you remember these simple clues you will be successful taking fish on emerging Caddis, I guarantee.

And, have X and Iris Caddis patterns in your fly arsenal. Then you can’t miss fooling even the most selective caddis feeding trout. Let me know how you do.

Nice Rainbow Trout took an X Caddis.

Until next time, thanks for reading and please support our partner conservation organizations, and keep on fishing!