Overview

The Red Zebra Midge takes one of the most reliable subsurface patterns in trout fishing and points it at the blood midge. The construction is the same spare, effective build that made the original a permanent box fixture: a slim thread body, a bright wire rib for contrast, and a bead at the head. Nothing on it is decorative, which is precisely why it keeps working on water where fussier flies stop.

The red dressing matters more than it might sound. Midge larvae carry haemoglobin, which is what gives the naturals their deep red tone, and in cold tailwater those larvae are the most consistently available food a trout has. A red body is not an attractor choice here, it is an imitative one. The tungsten bead then does the practical work, pulling the fly through the upper column fast so it fishes at depth for the whole drift instead of the tail end of it. Run it as the anchor on a Euro-nymph rig, the lower fly of a tandem pair, or a dropper under a dry in slower water. Tied here in size 18.Read More +