Palomino Midge

[Lonnie]

Do you guys tie/use this one ? Last time out I missed a few on this pattern. I checked the fly archives here and couldn't find it. What do you guys use for the extended body and the antenna? I like the looks of this fly, but haven't used it that much.

Any random ideas about the Palomino accepted.....

[Jason]

I think it's a worthy fly to have in your box, especially for the next couple of months as midge numbers increase. It's a proven pattern for sure. I have a few in my box but don't use them as much as I should. I think they're a great dropper/emerger pattern.

BTW, that new midge pattern you gave me a few months back has been killer. It's definitely a must have pattern. What was it called? The Astro Midge? I'll see if I can get a photo posted of the ones i've been tying lately. It should be a great fly for the Green trip.

[nightfish]

I've tied it, using microchenille for the body, grey superfine dubbing and white antron for the pullover. Black, tan, olive and red have produced for me and the friends I've handed them out to.

But, I prefer a WD40 flashback in black, olive, red or brown...all with grey superfine thorax.

[Lonnie]

BTW, that new midge pattern you gave me a few months back has been killer. It's definitely a must have pattern. What was it called? The Astro Midge?...


Yeah, the Astro is out of this world. I think JayMorr likes it too....

Lonnie

[JayMorr]

Jason....I thought the "Astro" was gonna be kept a secret???

Oh well tis all good ;)


JayMorr

[Utah DaveII]

What does the thing look like?

[Jason]

Jason....I thought the "Astro" was gonna be kept a secret???

Oh well tis all good ;)


JayMorr

Well, it's Lonnie's fly so I guess it's up to him.

Sorry for hi-jacking your thread Lonnie. I'll stop.

[Grizz]

Please do tell. I've been waiting for years to find a productive Midging pattern.

:-))

pea's

[Lonnie]

Jason,

I guess since the cat's out of the bag, you can go ahead and post the pics. I don't have a good digital camera, or I would....

Lonnie

[icthys]

I like the Palomino. I've tied it in red and black using micro chenille, I use peacock for the thorax, and antron for the pullover. I like to take a lighter to the butt of the chenille and toast it just a touch.

[Trav]

I was given the Astro Midge from the man himself durring a fishing trip a little while ago and "I'll tell you what" that thing produced time after time.

Trav

[Tightlinez]

so lets hear the recipe and get a pic of this out of the world midge!

[Curtis Fry]

Astro Midge? Right Reorge. (Jetson's)

So I've used a variation of the Palomino midge for a long time with great success. Great patterns. I use microchenille for the tail and just foam for the head. Hardly any body. Here's a picture of basically the same pattern except it has some CDC on top.

[Lonnie]

Astro Midge? Right Reorge. (Jetson's)


So how did you know it was named after Astro the dog ???

WOW, Great Guess !!! Would you like to try for double jepordy ??

But it looks nothing like a Palomino, (more like a griffith's...)

Lonnie

[Jason]

I tied one up last night because the ones in my box were so thrashed. Here it is.

Hook: dry fly size 16-22
Thread: Black or gray 8/0
Tail: Twisted orange antron
Body: black crystal dub- just a little
Hackle: grizzly
Wing: white darlon- split

This is how I tie it, it may be a little different from Lonnie's recipe. This fly slays. Adult, emerger, cluster, whatever, it works awesome. I believe the original pattern actually has an antron loop wing, which I didn't do. Probably doesn't matter anyway.

[Drake]

Tail: Twisted orange antron
Wing: white darlon- split

Jason or whoever else knows, I am not at all familiar with how to twist the antron and get that look. Could you explain?

So the wing is split? It looks like a "post" from this view.

Nice fly.

Thanks-

[Lonnie]

As you guys can see this thing is kinda funky (Anyone that's been in a swap with me know's I'm a hack tier) Because of this it was named it after Astro the dog in the Jetsons. As Jason noted the "original" had a loop wing. Those were tied by a guy that used to run the orvis shop (he sold his share) in Foscoe, NC. They were tied to resemble Orthocladiinae Chrinomids which we had a fair amount of back east. When I found out they are common in the Provo and the green, I resurrected this one. This bug comes off late PM. in good numbers in late Jan. through late Feb. I knew about these guys and wanted a fly that works when other midges aren't coming off. It's a great little fly. Enjoy.

Drake, you can split it or post it. Splitting works better. But I've seen it tied with two tufts of CDC too. Just clip them way back so they look like little fuzzy antennae. I've used crystal black and a VERY dark green crystal (almost peacock looking) dub too. You Gotta have that orange tail (it's key)....

[Jason]

Jason or whoever else knows, I am not at all familiar with how to twist the antron and get that look. Could you explain?

So the wing is split? It looks like a "post" from this view.

Nice fly.
Thanks-

Take about three inches of antron, and twist it into a tight rope, the tighter the better. Then holding each end, bring your hands together and the rope will twist back on its self, kinda like RAW's twisted foam hopper. This will create a nice little antron rope, then tie it in. I believe this fly is an 18, but you can get them down to a size 22 if you have small enough hackle. I can' wait to try these out on the Green.

[JayMorr]

I have been tossing this in size#20 and getting great results. It stands out and the fish love it ;)

JayMorr

[Utah DaveII]

What size should I tie these at are size 20-24 enough or do I need to go down to a 28 or (the horror)30.

[Curtis Fry]

Cool pattern guys. I was looking for something else to fill a void in my new midge box and now I have it. I'm going to use it with my bungie midge and see how it works. On a side note, you should really try this bungie midge -- it rocks. I'll try posting a picture when I get some photos taken later tonight.

[Lonnie]

Dave

20's should be OK. As the hatch moves along/finishes up, you might do better with smaller ones...

Curtis,

Good luck with this one. This fly might out fish the bunny (Sorry Cheech!). You know that old Joke, "A bear and a bunny, err rabbit, were taking a crap in the woods...."


Lonnie

[Curtis Fry]

Bungie not Bunny. Cheech's Bunny midge is cool, but I've been tying a midge emerger using bungie cord innards for the body. Great imitation of the naturals coming off on the Provo right now. Thanks to Dennis, I've been able to get them tied in #28's and #30's now.

[Trav]

I have seen tons of size 30-40 midge as of late. ;-)

As for the Astro Midge, Since it is more of a Midge Cluster pattern I like to fish it in a size 20-22 at the smallest.

Trav

[Lonnie]

Take about three inches of antron, and twist it into a tight rope, the tighter the better. Then holding each end, bring your hands together and the rope will twist back on its self....

Try twisting it with a pair of forecepts one one end of the rope. It's alot easier to get a tight wrap. I use the same technique on the palomino extended body....

Lonnie

[Rod Hog]

Utah Dave II and I went fishing this weekend. With all the talk about the Bunny Midge and the new Astro Midge, we thought that a test was in order. We put the Astro Midge up against the reigning champion - Bunny Midge. Dave started with the Astro Midge, and I used the Bunny Midge. The results were truly amazing.

At first the Astro Midge and the Bunny Midge were doing about the same. However, it became obvious after a while that the fish caught on the Astro Midge were much larger (consistently 4-5 inches larger), than the fish caught on the Bunny Midge. To keep the test fair, we switched flies, so as not to give the Astro Midge an advantage due to Dave's fishing prowess.

It was as if someone fipped a switch. The minute I started using the Astro Midge, the fish I caught were much larger than those caught by Dave. Even though it was just a test, Dave got pissed. He threw a rock in the hole that I was fishing and put the fish down. But after the water calmed down, I was able to consistently raise good fish on the Astro Midge once again. In fact it was so amazing, that I could swear I saw fish break off their pattern of feeding and they would move up to 4 feet to the side in order to take the Astro Midge.

Next time we go out, Dave is going to put on a full diver's body suit, with snorkle and mask, and witness this epic new fly in action. I can only say that tying up the Bunny Midge now seems to be a waste of time.

[cheech]

dang, and I thought i had cracked the code. I'm going to have to try some of those Astro Wooly Worms out. Or how about bunny instead of antron??? HMMMmmmmmMMmmmm. Sounds yummy.

Lonnie, your fly is Dale Jr. Mine is Jeff Gordon;(

[Curtis Fry]

So not to discount Cheech's tying prowess, I'm curious, Rod Hog, what sizes of flies respectively were you using for each pattern? Maybe that was more the issue than the actual pattern.

[Sedge]

I tied a few of those Astros in size 20, and tried them out on the MP yesterday. I also used a quill body CDC emerger I like, also in size 20 (I like it because it works for me in both midge and bwo hatches). The CDC emerger took more fish.

But in light of your results, I will take a closer look and see if I might have been doing anything wrong in tying the Astro. Maybe I should try the Astro in 18 or even 16? The dark midges yesterday on the MP were actually fairly large...

[flytire]

A modified Griffiths Gnat? Cool!

[dan moulton]

Dear FlyTire,

In the interest of fair play and because you appear to be a newbie, go to the top of the page and type astro midge into the search feature of this website. and read the various and many postings about the shall we say "colorful history" of the astro midge. Once you've educated youself about this particular item you may want edit your comment.
There were many on this site taken in by the imposter.
Or to put it a little more blunt some of us felt like dumb asses.