All about Midges, with Rick Hafele

The Orvis Fly-Fishing Podcast

James Hathaway

Bass, Fishing, Bonefish, Wilderness, Flyfishing, Trout, How To, Steelhead, Bluegill, Fly, Orvis, Sports, Salmon, Panfish, Education, Rosenbauer

4.8 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 18 November 2022

⏱️ 90 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

I get a lot of questions about midges and their life cycle, so I thought I would invite a professional entomologist to give us an overview of these insects and how to imitate them. Rick Hafele [3816] has not only been an entomologist all his working life, he's also a superb angler and fly-fishing author and perhaps one of the best authorities on aquatic entomology we have. Learn about what color midges to imitate, which part of their life cycle is most important to trout, and how to effectively fish these imitations. In

The Fly Box this week, we have some thought-provoking questions and some terrific suggestions from listeners, including:

I have used both rubber and felt soles and I still have problems wading. I am in good shape and have good balance. What wading shoes do you suggest?

I witnessed a huge hatch of insects but only caught largemouth bass. Is there a depth and current speed where fishing a dry fly is futile?

What type of poly leader would you suggest for my 5-weight rod?

How long should my leader be when fishing a poly leader?

What CFS do you consider safe to wade in a river?

If I catch a wild brown or rainbow in a brook trout stream, should I relocate that fish below a waterfall?

What is the purpose of releasing large hatchery brood stock trout into wild trout streams? Do they have any effect on a wild trout population?

How would you fish a slow, tannic river with a mud and sand bottom?

How long do you stay in one section of a river?

Should I match the diameter of the butt section of my leader to the diameter of my fly line?

What should I do if I hook a large striped bass and it thrashes close to me but does not take line. Should I try to get the line on the reel?

Some great tips from a South Dakota angler on how to find superb fly fishing close to home.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi and welcome to the Orvis Fly Fishing Podcast. This is your host Tom Rosenbauer and
0:16.7	I guess this week is Rick Haively. Rick is an angler entomologist and by that I mean
0:24.2	he's a real professional entomologist. Rick actually worked as an entomologist for his career
0:33.2	and he's also a great angler and a writer and I get a lot of requests for more information on
0:41.5	midges and since we're going into the winter season at the time I'm recording this podcast
0:47.3	and midges are probably the most important or one of the most important food sources for
0:52.3	trout during the winter. I thought that we could all benefit from an education on the midge
0:58.5	life cycle and how to imitate and how to fish him. So I think you'll enjoy this. I know I've learned
1:04.9	a lot from talking to Rick on this podcast and I'm sure you're going to look at midges and
1:11.8	midge fishing in entirely different ways after listening to this.
1:17.1	But first the fly box, the fly box is where you ask questions and I try to answer them and if you
1:29.0	have a question for the fly box you can send it to me at podcast at orvis.com. You can either just
1:34.8	type your question in your email or you can attach a voice file and maybe I'll read it on the air.
1:41.7	So let's start this week with an email from Peggy from Oberlin, Ohio. Hi Tom, I'm a 60-year-old
1:51.4	Ohio mom who started fly fishing this year for the first time. My son moved out to Montana for
1:56.6	college where he's studying fish conservation and he works summers on the Gallatin River teaching
2:01.4	fly fishing. Thought the best way to keep our relationship strong with him 2,000 miles away
2:06.5	was for me to enter his world which is fish 24 or 7. He set me up with his old basic rod
2:13.4	and reel, filled a fly box for me and I used his old waiters. I've caught some nice cutthroats,
2:19.0	rainbows and browns under his tutelage. My problem and question is about the boots. Basically how can
2:25.8	I move safely up and down the river without losing my balance and falling? I'm in pretty decent shape,
2:31.8	competitive equestrian so I have great balance. I have rubber, nubby boots and I've used felt
	...

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