Fishing Forum

After having problems with midge hookups on my last couple of trips, I have been experimenting with tying midges on small egg hooks. The hooks are very short shanked with a wider than normal gap. The problem with regular sized midge hooks is that they are so small they frequently don't hook the fish on the take, or if they do get a hookup, it’s a light lip or skin hold that pulls out with a larger fish in current. So I threw a couple of the wider gap ones that I had tied in my pack for my next outing.

Finally I had a couple of hours yesterday to hit the water with a few flies before I had to drop off some stuff for family.

The day was really nice even though it was mostly overcast and in the thirties. When I look at the calendar and remember that it's the middle of December, I am floored at what an outstanding day it was. No ice on the guides, no shelf ice, and the fish were rising consistently to tiniest of little black midges. It was a great day to be outside waving a stick in the air.

The catching was good too. I mostly caught cutthroats with a few rainbows sprinkled into the mix.

If you look carefully at this cutthroat, you can see the width of the gap on the midge I was using.




Most of the fish were about 12-13 inches.





The wider gap midges were holding well, even in some of this heavy current:




These guys were a lot of fun.






But the fat mommas were an absolute blast! [cool]


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I use as heavy as I can find curved scud hooks that seem to work well, but I am always looking for improvement. I might try some of those egg hooks. Do you tie the body around the bend of the hook at all or just the shank. The reason I ask is on small flies like say size 18's and smaller I use larger hooks and just tie the body shorter which allows me to use stouter hooks because I have experienced the same thing you were describing. I don't know that the fish seem to shy away from the extra bare hook. Anyways, thanks for the idea.

Loufly
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Very nice! I always tie my mids and midges on Curved Mustad hooks. Kind of the Klinkhammer idea. Bigger hook but fish only see a small profile.
However, in the colder months, #22 is my go to for WD40's, Zebras and maybe 18 for eggs. And on some cases, snow flies in #30.
The Orvis big eye hook is awesome.
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It depends on the size of the midge I want. Some I tied down the bend a little, most though I tied short. I don't know if the larger hook hanging out there is a problem that spooks some fish or not. I even tied a couple of them on the gold colored egg hooks, and they catch fish too. In fact that first fish is on a gold hook.

The other caveat is that most of the places I fish aren't heavily pressured. That maybe a large factor. So I don't know if I get fewer takes than I would on a smaller midge hook, but I do know that more of the fish I hooked...stayed hooked.

Here is a blurry picture where I was trying to show how well it hooked the fish, but it didn't come out. Still you can see that it isn't a skin hookup.


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Here is a picture of the hooks. I was using the four on the bottom that are labeled as egg hooks. I have no idea on their sizes, manufacturer, or inventory number. I got the box of them jumbled together second hand.

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The bottom left looks like an Octopus hook. I love those hooks for Tenkara flies. I use bigger ones for my Carp egg. Thanks for the visual.
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Looks like an awesome day, especially for December. I'm going to have to give that a try. I kind of hate midge fishing because the tiny hooks, so I'll have to try this.
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Bingo! Sometimes we just can't see past what we have always done and when something so simple, yet profound comes along it blows the mind. I tie Chironomids by the dozens every winter to get ready for spring and early summer lake fishing, I might have to throw a few extra dozen in there with egg hooks.

Loufly
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Try the Tiemco 2457 caddis/scud nymph hook. Wide gap and 2x thickness means it sets well in the lip and doesn't bend.
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Cperce stellar idea I have always hated how many fish I miss when midge fishing. I'm going to have to go fill up a box. Congrats on a couple of nice fish and a great day
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