 For as
far as the eye can see, the glassy surface of the water
is broken by dozens of dimples and rings that mean only
one thing to a fly fisherman...rising trout! Your eyes
scan the air above the water, but see nothing. Not until
you approach the water very closely do you observe the
hundreds of tiny, mosquito-like flies dancing above its
surface. You smile to yourself as you tie on a 6X
tippet, and produce a No. 20 dry fly from your fly box.
This is going to be like shooting ducks in a barrel.
Twenty,
fifty, a hundred casts and half a dozen fly changes later
and you're still waiting for your first "sitting
duck." What can possibly be wrong? The fish still
are rising. They haven't spooked, but they won't rise to
your dry fly. What should you try next?
Look
a little more closely, friend! Are the trout really
taking dry flies from the surface, or could they be
feeding on something else?
It
takes a sharp eye to differentiate between a rise to a
minute fly on the surface or to an insect just under the
surface film. If all of the trout fishermen who have been
fooled by this situation were laid end to end they'd
probably line both banks of every lake and stream in the
country!
This
is what the British refer to as a "smutting
rise," and it commonly occurs when the trout are
feeding on the pupal stage of the "midge." The
"midge" belongs to an order of two-winged flies
called Diptera, and those of interest to the fisherman
usually are within the family Chironomidae. The
Chironomidae have complete life cycles going from the
egg, to the larva, to the pupa, and finally to the adult
fly. Of the four stages, the middle two are probably most
important to fly fishermen.
The
larval stage of the Chironomid may be as small as
one-eighth of an inch long and looks like a very slender
worm or tube. These "worms" may float freely in
the water and are taken readily by trout.
In
the pupal stage, the insect develops an enlarged thorax,
rudimentary wings which hang close to the underside of
the abdomen and hairy gills which encircle the pupa
behind the head. The pupae hang vertically with their
gills in the surface film and drift about until the adult
"midge" hatches and flies away, leaving the
empty pupal case behind.
It
is the rise to the midge pupa which often proves to be
our undoing. The trout actually takes the pupa in the
surface film, leaving a small ring to mark the rise. Or
the fish may take the pupa just under the film, but his
momentum carries him slightly through the film, creating
what appears to be the rise to a floating fly.
Adult
midges may be seen flying in clouds over the water, but
because they spend very little time on the water they are
not as readily available to the fish as the earlier stage
of the insect's life cycle.
Fishing
the artificial midge pupa can be quite deadly and the fly
will produce during the entire season. It is often stated
in the literature that the Chironomidae hatch from May to
October. The writer, however, has observed trout eagerly
feeding on the pupae in March and even earlier in the
year during a snowstorm!
The
midge pupa is very easy to tie, and no serious fly
fisherman should be without a few in his fly box. The
colors of the natural pupae range all the way from red to
white. The most effective colors that I've found have
been light gray and black, but it would be a good idea to
match samples from your own stream. In the Eastern United
States, hook sizes run from 16 to 28, while in the West,
some are tied on hooks as large as #12-2X long.
The
pupa is tied as follows: Begin with the tying silk placed
on the hook at the bend and tie in a short piece of black
tying silk to be used as a rib. Make a very thin body
from the desired color of fur dubbing, ending about a
quarter of the shank length behind the eye of the hook.
Some tiers prefer to start the dubbing just around the
bend in the hook to give the pupa a slightly curved
appearance. The body should be only a little larger in
diameter than the hook itself.
Next
wind the rib in a counter-clockwise direction, which will
prevent it from disappearing into the dubbing (which
should be wound clockwise). Ahead of the body tie in a
piece of natural brown, gray or whit ostrich herl; wrap
two or three turns of herl around the hook, tie it off,
and the fly is finished. Another effective imitation can
be made using a quill body and several turns of hackle
for a collar, or with an enlarged thorax of fur dubbing.
 In a stream, the pupa should be
fished upstream, dead drift, like a dry fly. I generally
use at least a 6X leader tippet and often go to 7X if the
fish are very particular. Since the natural pupa drifts
in or just below the surface film, I usually grease the
tippet down to within an inch of the fly, which will
allow it to drift at the proper depth. On several
occasions however, I even have had to grease the ostrich
herl collar of the fly (but not the body) so that it
would float vertically in the surface film like the
natural!
When
fishing in stillwater, allow your pupa to drift in or
just under the surface film as described above. Very,
very slowly retrieve the fly with frequent long pauses.
You probably will not be able to actually see the fly, so
you must keep your eyes glued to the spot where you think
it is. Gently lift the rod to set the hook at the sign of
any rise in the area here you think the fly is.
In
lakes, you may also fish the pupa fairly deep. In this
case, after letting the fly sink, retrieve it very, very
slowly as before with the same frequent pauses. The idea
is to slowly draw the fly to the surface in the same
manner in which the natural rises to emerge.
Fishing
the Chironomid pupa is "fine and fussy
fishin'," but it just might be the solution to a
very frustrating problem..."rising" trout that
won't take a dry fly!
 
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