Zebra Midge (Assorted)

The Zebra Midge is one of the most effective trout flies ever tied. It was created by Ted Welling, a guide at Lees Ferry on Arizona’s Colorado River, to imitate the tiny midge pupae that trout feed on in huge numbers. Midges hatch all year round, so the Zebra Midge catches fish in every season, and is especially valuable in winter when little else is hatching.

Each fly has a slim, smooth thread body with a fine wire rib for segmentation and a bead for weight and flash. This assorted pack covers the three most useful colours:

• Black with silver bead: the original and most popular Zebra Midge.
• Olive with copper bead: matches olive midges and weedy water.
• Red with gold bead: also suggests a bloodworm (midge larva), a favourite food of trout on lakes and slow rivers.

How to fish it

• Rivers and tailwaters: fish it as a dropper below a larger nymph, egg or San Juan Worm under an indicator. Trout are often drawn by the bigger fly and then take the midge.
• Dry-dropper: hang a small Zebra Midge below a buoyant dry fly.
• Stillwaters: let it sink, then retrieve slowly with a figure-of-eight, or fish it under an indicator at the depth the trout are feeding.

Typical materials

• Hook: Curved emerger / nymph hook, sizes #16–#22
• Bead: Silver, copper or gold bead
• Body: Black, olive or red thread, wrapped slim and smooth
• Rib: Fine wire

Hand-tied and quality-checked. Sold by the dozen; samples available on request.