Midges, also called chironomids after the latin name for the family Chironomidae, are probably the most prolific aquatic insect in streams or lakes.  In lake fishing particularly midges reach almost cult status among many fly fishers, and the level of sophistication of fishing tactics and fly patterns for midges can be down right amazing.

This little blurb is about a fly pattern to match midge pupae.  There are truly thousands of midge pupa patterns out there in the real world and many of them work really well.  But among the midge aficionados there seems to be a never ending search for the perfect pupa imitation.  So with that in mind I want to pass on a pattern that was sent to me via an email and link to a web page that describes how to tie it.  The web link is as follows:  http://homepage.ntlworld.com/radbard88/esbuzzer/

I’m sorry that I can’t give credit to the tier who came up with this pattern, but there is no mention of the tier’s name that I can find.  The secret ingredient in this pattern is a narrow strip of electrostatic bag material.  This is the shiny plastic bag that electronic equipment is shipped in.  The material is quite easy to tie with and has a unique quality of sparkle and transparency that seems to work really well for midge pupa, and I think would work well for many emerging insect patterns where one wants to suggest the sparkle of trapped air bubbles.  If you want a realistic midge pupa and find new materials interesting to try, then definitely check out this web site.

Happy Casts!

Rick