de Blue Horse-Tail Fly Midge
By Elaine Cook
So you're off to the Green River. Better have some midge patterns with you. Midges are a type of aquatic insect, often very small, that are available to trout year 'round in most places. In the Green they are very abundant at times and feeding fish will key on them. The easiest way to fish this fly is to trail it behind a more visible dry fly, using ten to twenty inches of tippet tied to the bend of the larger (more visible) fly.
Hook: TMC 2487 sizes 18-24 (shrimp/caddis pupa hook)
Thread: Black or charcoal, 8/0 or 12/0
Abdomen: A single black horse hair (mane or tail)
Thorax: Fine peacock herl
Hackle: Starling
1. Crimp barb.
2. Attach thread about a third of the shank back of the eye.
3. Bind horse hair to shank from the thread attachment point, continuing back almost halfway around the hook bend.
4. Return the thread to the attachment point.
5. Wind horse hair forward in close wraps, each turn tight against the last. Tie off at the thread attach point and cut excess.
6. Tie in tip of peacock herl, make a dubbing loop, wrap the herl a few times around one side of the loop, remove any slack from the herl and spin the herl in the loop. Make two or three wraps of spun herl as a thorax, tie off and cut excess.
7. Select a small starling feather that is light colored in the center. Cut the black tip off across the stem and trim the black tips of the barbs off along the stem.
8. Tie stem in one eye length back from the eye, tip of feather to the rear and shiny side toward you.
9. Very carefully (starling is fragile) make two or three wraps of hackle, tie off, and cut excess. (You might find that wrapping the starling feather in a wet paper towel and letting it soak an hour or two before using it will soften the stem enough to reduce the risk of breakage.)
10. Form a small head and whip finish.