Hit the middle again Saturday. As the last 3 weeks, great midge hatch going off for about 2 hours. Fish are eating some type of midge on the surface, but can't figure what it is, any ideas? Able to fool a few with 18-20 Griffiths gnats, but that is not the right pattern, any ideas? Did manage a couple myself and got my friend his first fish on fly rod and on a dry Griffiths gnat, so he is hooked now.
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I usually use an 18 BWO when I see those midges. Sometimes a BWO emerger does a little better. I will sometimes also use a size 20 WD40 behind a 16 BWO dry and that will occasionally work. Another thing I like to try is a similarly sized grey comparadun. My guess is it is about the same as what you are doing. I find that whether I catch a fish depends more on how actively it is rising than on my exact pattern--but maybe that would not be true if I were more careful.
As an aside, I felt like I was doing much better exactly a year ago on this hatch than I'm doing now. I think we have more water or something and I haven't found as many fish feeding on the surface. It could be that work is getting me down and I'm just not out enough.
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fish were rising and sipping all over the place. Could not see what they were taking though, guess I am going to have to get a seine to check the water. It has been an incredible hatch with the amount of fish rising. Tried a 18 BWO, 16- 18 Barrs emergers, and the only thing they hit was the Griffiths gnat, but that is not the perfect pattern. What ever it is is right on the surface, but must be really small. Going to try some 22 and maybe ever 24 patterns if I can tie them.
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That's interesting. I don't know what else you could try. I've encountered similar problems in the past. Going smaller sounds like a good idea. I will sometimes try the strategy of raising the rod tip slowly at the end of the drift (usually with the emerger, though sometime also with the dry) and I feel like that can trigger a strike. If I don't have exactly the right pattern, I don't want the trout to be able to think about it for too long.
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That is a good idea that I did not try. I will keep that in mind though and try it. Literally had probably 100 fish come up to within an inch or two and look, and then go back down. Frustrating when you know they are eating and can't match it close enough.
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Try a small stone fly pattern??
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