Overview

The Zebra Midge is about as close as trout fishing gets to a sure thing on cold water, and the Tungsten version puts it where the fish actually are. The build could hardly be simpler: a slim black thread body, a bright wire rib and a bead at the head. That contrast between dark body and metallic rib is what the pattern lives on, breaking up an otherwise plain silhouette and giving trout something to key on in clear water.

Midge pupae are available to trout in every month of the year, which is why this fly earns a permanent place in the box rather than a seasonal one. The tungsten bead is the working difference: it drops the fly through the upper column quickly and holds it in the strike zone for the length of the drift, so less of each run is spent waiting for the fly to fish. Use it as the anchor on a Euro-nymph rig, the lower fly on a tandem nymph setup, or a dropper beneath a dry in slower tailwater. Tied here in sizes 20 and 22.Read More +