Ugly Trout Flies

This fly, this dull and ugly attempt to mimic some sort of Midge-Caddis mutation is a tough one to sell. It is also hard to buy.

#16 Midgezilla

Pale Yellow or Cahill thread

4X Tippet Rib

Pale Yellow and Tan Rabbit Dubbing

For the next two months here on the Eagle, Colorado and Roaring Fork Rivers this bug, a size 16 or even larger, represents the most abundant goodie snack on the menu. There are so many "Midgezilla's" in the drift that our flies often return to hand covered in them.  But a really good imitation of this over sized Midge can be hard to find commercially. I get it; if I am buying flies for a shop, its a little too big for the Midge order and too small for the Caddis. It has zero bin appeal or enough bling to catch any fisherman who buys bugs and fly shops are in biz to sell, not collect flies.

If you tie, put this one on the list instead of a typical Zebra. If you are new to tying. this is a great pattern to get basics like dubbing, ribbing and thread control sharp. The natural is enormous and beyond plentiful so sometimes those fat lumpy creations you end up with when you are first starting out stand out in a crowd and get eaten.

The Stonefly on the right in the picture above has great bin appeal but the little Quill body Spider in the middle out fishes the Stone over and over. I love fishing and tying softhackles and wet flies. When tyed right, they are far from ugly but again they don't catch many fisherman. Traditional Spider patterns (like the one above) call for approx 18 barbs on the soft hackle wraps which makes for a sparse almost fragile looking bug. Trout love it but I think most of today's fisherman pass on it for a more heavily hackled fly and in my experience that is a mistake. Slim and sparse patterns simply work better.
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I have 2 Winter Selection Boxes as well as a collection of individual flies for sale at the shop.
Each box contains 90 flies, including Jigs, Dries, Emergers, Tech Nymphs and Bead heads specifically for late winter use here in Colorado. Each box retails for $279 and comes in a new Umpqua Lt Midge box.

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