When you finally find that glassy, flat water pool, your heart beats a
bit faster. You wipe the sweat from your brow and quietly peer over the
gentle current. You start to see the quiet sips of
cooly calculated trout feeding on tiny black midges at the surface.
Energized by your discovery, you tie on a CDC Midge Adult, creep a bit
closer to the pool, and you make your
first ever so delicate cast.
The CDC Midge Adult is a fine
imitation of a fully hatched midge in its adult life stage. It's tiny,
but incredibly effective in still waters and situations that require
finesse, delicacy, and really light terminal tackle. With a puff of
naturally water-repellent CDC feathers for a wing and a sleek black
body, this fly floats like a dream and is a dead ringer for the real
thing. Next time you find yourself on the quiet shores of a favorite
creek or lake and the midge action is in full swing, the CDC Midge
Adult should be at the heart of your angling strategy.
Specifications:
- A classic adult midge pattern that incorporates the naturally water-repellent CDC feather for floatation
- Midge imitation in the adult life stage
- Adult midges are active early in the morning and later in the afternoon
- During the early part of the day, look for midge clusters above slower water
- In the afternoon and evening, look for egg-laying females at the water's surface
- Be extremely careful not to disturb fish holding in slow water when fishing an adult midge pattern
- It is paramount to angling success that you achieve a drag free drift when fly fishing with an adult midge pattern
- Longer leaders are very useful when fishing adult midge patterns
- SIZE 20
When and Where to Fish the CDC Midge Adult
Midges are
active on trout water throughout North America on a year-round basis
and can be particularly effective on western rivers, streams, and
spring creeks. Midges generally hatch early in the morning hours and
return to the water's surface to mate and deposit eggs later in the
day. During the morning hours, look for soft rises from feeding trout
in slower water like eddys, deeper pools, and slower bank side runs.
These rises are generally indicative of emerging midges and can be
fantastic places to hook a hungry fish with an adult midge fly pattern.
In the afternoon and evening, it pays to observe the water's surface
and look for areas where adult midges are clustering to mate and
females are landing on the surface film and diving below to lay their
eggs. Despite their ability to live in a wide variety of water types,
the most productive water types for adult midge activity are of
relatively low energy, so be sure to check out all the areas below
faster riffles, eddys, and slower water near under cut banks and deeper
channels and pools.
How to Fish the CDC Midge Adult
The
CDC Midge Adult can be fished as either and impressionistic searching
pattern or as a realistic imitation when matching the hatch. Midges
spend a good deal of time in the subsurface as larvae and a relatively
short time emerging and hatching, but a well-prepared angler can have a
field day on dead drifted adult midge patterns like the CDC Midge
Adult. Midges can reside anywhere within an aquatic system so look for
activity in all types of water. Faster riffles, runs, current seams, as
well as the slower pools, slack water areas, eddys, and pocket water
below and near the higher energy portions of a river, stream, or spring
creek can all produce excellent midge hatches. Midges often move to
slightly slower waters prior to and during emergence and subsequent
hatching. Fish this fly on a drag free dead drift, and in slower water,
be sure to present the fly delicately and be careful not to disturb
holding fish.
Midge
Even though a relatively simplistic midge may not seem as sexy or interesting to a fly fisher as a giant Hexagenia
mayfly nymph or the epic activity of thousands of electric green
emerging caddis, trout think midges are just fine! Midges are
relatively small aquatic insects that can be found in just about any
freshwater environment on the planet, and despite their diminutive
size, the hundreds of species of these mosquito-like bugs compose a
quite significant portion of a healthy trout's diet. Midges, like
caddis, undergo a complete metamorphosis, and experience a larva, pupa,
and adult stage within a typical life cycle.
Midge Adult Life Stage
During the midge adult life stage, these two-winged "true flies" of the Diptera
order can be observed forming mating clusters above slower moving,
lower energy aquatic environments. There are thousands of species of
midges and the winged adults resemble the common mosquito; they are
easily identified by their long, slender legs, darkly colored bodies,
and flat pair of wings. Adult midges are quite small but constitute a
big part of the common trout's diet. Midges hatch to adults in the
morning hours and typically return to the water's surface later in the
afternoon and evening. Male midges will cluster above the water's
surface to attract and fertilize female mates. Females will either land
repeatedly on the water's surface film to deposit their eggs or will
dive beneath the water to securely deposit their eggs on submerged
rocks and debris. These egg-laying adult female midges will sometimes
be caught in the main current and swept downstream where they collect
in slower pools and eddys.
Leland on Umpqua
In
1972 a man named Dennis Black and his fly tying skills found themselves
in high demand. Mr. Black, then a professional production fly tyer, was
famous in the industry for his unsurpassed skill and speed with
whipping up tremendously beautiful and precisely constructed flies. It
wasn’t long until this young fly tying superstar realized that he ought
to take his consistent approach to quality to the next level. Shortly
after this realization, a small army of fly tyers had banded together
to support Mr. Black’s vision. With the likes of Dave Whitlock, Jack
Dennis, and Andy Puyans, Mr. Black was officially in business.
Dennis
Black’s new company Umpqua Feather Merchants quickly extended its reach
and fly production capabilities with expansion into India, Sri Lanka,
and Thailand, where the world’s first and full blown “fly tying
factories” were built. Since those early days, only the highest
standard of excellence has marked Umpqua and this commitment to quality
and efficiency continues to spur the company forward. Dennis Black’s
innovative vision for “fly production” has truly revolutionized how the
fly industry operates and has ultimately made the majority of
production flies better. From the first “royalty system” for rewarding
the most creative professional fly tyers to streamlining production
systems and offering a range of other products, Umpqua Feather
Merchants just seems to “do it all.”
Today, Umpqua Feather
Merchants is without a doubt the world’s best and most prolific
supplier of hand tied fly fishing flies as well as fly tying hooks and
materials, and they recently got better! Umpqua’s brand new, state of
the art headquarters in Louisville, Colorado marks another paradigm
shift in the way fly tying business is done. From its vast warehouse to
its specially designed inventory management and tracking system, Umpqua
is poised to continue its energetic trajectory and lead the way for the
next generation of flies and fly tyers.
Umpqua on Umpqua
"As
you may or may not know, we're the largest producer of quality
hand-tied flies in the world. We also make available through your local
fly shop a wide array of the finest fly-tying hackle and Tiemco hooks.
At
Umpqua we offer everything the angler needs to a have a first class
fishing experience. (Everything that is, but the water and the fish.)"
Umpqua on Dennis Black and the “Obvious Quest”
“The
idea first took shape in the hands of our founder, Dennis Black, back
in 1972. As a fast and facile professional fly tyer, Dennis was known
for his skill and speed at producing hundreds of dozens of flies each
year for the larger mail order houses. But he was also quick to realize
how fast the demand for excellent flies would outstrip the abilities of
cottage industry types like him.
The Obvious Quest: To create
excellent flies in sufficient supply – without sinking his standards.
In response, Dennis developed (with characteristic care) a methodical
plan: First, he enlisted the tying expertise of the likes of Dave
Whitlock, Jack Dennis, Andy Puyans and others, to help him set the
standard of excellence for Umpqua flies.
Next, Dennis
established the first of what would eventually be five separate
fly-tying “factories,” first in India, then in Sri Lanka, and finally
in Thailand. The primary focus at each of these factories was on
producing the very best fishing flies possible, constructed of the very
best materials available. From the beginning, the quantity of flies
produced was secondary to the quality and excellence of each fly
pattern. These high standards were assured by the personal involvement
of the fly designers themselves, and by the ever-increasing skill,
imagination and creativity of the Umpqua production fly tiers. Today,
you will find no flies more skillfully tied than those available from
Umpqua Feather Merchants.
Finally, Dennis created a system of
royalty payments, to reward professional tyers like Whitlock, Lefty
Kreh, Randall Kaufman, Larry Dahlberg, and Bob Popovics for uniquely
good patterns.
The Result: Today, Umpqua produces umpteen
thousand dozen flies, from micro-scopic midge imitations to the huge
patterns favored by marlin and sailfish. And the "Umpquality" – you’ll
see for yourself.”
