Catching Selective Trout With a Mayhem Midge
If you've ever stood on a riverbank during a mid-winter hatch and felt like you were throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the fish, you probably needed a mayhem midge. It's one of those patterns that doesn't look like much in your fly box—just a tiny speck of thread and wire—but once it hits the water, it's like a dinner bell for picky trout. I remember the first time I tied one on during a particularly brutal day on the Taylor River. The fish were rising, but they were being incredibly snobbish about every standard midge pupa I drifted their way. I switched to a size 20 mayhem midge, and the very first cast resulted in a beautiful rainbow that had ignored me for an hour. ...