Overview

The Manhattan Midge was tied in a New York City apartment by two homesick Colorado anglers, and it now sits in most South Platte guides' boxes. Forrest Dorsey developed it during a spell living in Manhattan, meeting his friend Jay Park a couple of nights a week to watch fishing films and wrap thread. What came out of those sessions was a deliberate hybrid, taking the strongest feature from each of three proven midge patterns rather than starting from nothing.

The result carries a slim, segmented body, a flashy wing, a peacock collar that breathes and moves in the current, and a clear silver-lined bead at the head that reads as the trapped gas bubble in an emerging pupa. The Red dressing gives the blood-midge tone that tailwater trout key on hard through winter and early spring. It has since become a guide favourite through Cheesman Canyon, Deckers and Eleven Mile, and the pattern has travelled to eastern tailwaters on reputation alone. Tied here in size 22.Read More +