Griffith Gnat

[jmwhosh]

I'm not a fly tyer as of yet and so I went to look at getting some griffith gnats to imitate the midge hatches happening right now. Reading online about this fly it says that it imitates a "group" of midge adults. True? So would I be more successful using something like this or trying a single midge adult with an emerger trailing?

[Stoney Clarke]

GG are grear flies, you also can't go wrong with a #22-26 Para Adams. Go to Western Rivers or Fish Tech and ask them to pick out a feww midge patterns for you.

SC

[Utah DaveII]

I almost always use a dry with an emerger,

On dry I use a reverse midge, griffiths gnat (I like a tuft of Cdc for visibility), I think its callled a buzzball or maybe a fuzzball, and a small parachute adams.

Ask at Fish Tech for some good midge emergers. There are a million, but most are pretty close.

[jmwhosh]

So is Fish Tech a local store or an online kind of shop? I just searched on google and only found an abalone site and a bait/lure fishing site.

[Utah DaveII]

Is only highland drive and 6400 South. Tehy are after the old Anglers Model, so they seel bait and lures. But be not dismayed they have a collection of some very fine flyfishers in Byron, Mickey, Jimmy, Lance (Carpman) and Nate(?).

If you have nto been, I would take some time and fvisit Fish Tech, Western Rivers and the Orvis Store in the Salt Lake Area. They all have great staff and wonderfull selection. Just find out which one you like the best.

[Lonnie]

You should do a on the site search for the astro midge... 8-)>

[dan moulton]

The fishing Gods will frown on you for baiting a newbie Lonnie.

[Lonnie]

Hey, I put a smilie on it !!!

L

[Jason]

http://www.utahonthefly.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=54

[Curtis Fry]

That is one SWEET fly man!

[jmwhosh]

Thanks for the help fellas. I'm guessing the ol astro midge is either mythical or a utahonthefly recurring joke.

[Cary]

its just a griffith knat with an erection, sporting a Glen Plake coif.

Fred tied up two dozen before he caught on.

[Slayer]

You should do a on the site search for the astro midge... 8-)>

Yea and like an a-hole I wasted my time tieing a few dozen

[Curtis Fry]

Me too. However, in trying to figure out what the hell Lonnie had been drinking when tying the pattern, I did some more up-close study of the hatching midges on the MP and LP and as a result I came up with a couple of really great patterns that are starting to be my "go-to" flies for midging.

FWIW, I keep my 4 astro midges in the box so when someone asks me "what they bitin' on?", I can be generous and hand out some Astro midges...

[Jason]

Hey, its a good fly either way you look at it. Give it a try, you might be surprised. Instead of the orange tag, try olive, red, or black. Its a sleeper I'm telling you.

[fulano]

Lonnie and Jason both got me good ont he Astro. I was pretty damn sure based on their cyber personalities that those two guys wouldn't lead me astray, so I bit, even though the fly looked very strange.

The old line about how the wrong fly presented well will still catch fish sure isn't true if you dead drifting a size 16 Astro midge over a gluping trout. Not only does it not catch fish, I think it puts them down for a while so they can have a good laugh.

Glad to see some more experience folks got burned on it as well. I only tied two or three and still have them in the box. I plan on sending one to Lonnie in a swap sometime : ).

[JayMorr]

I found it to be a great pattern. Nice hi-vis gnat pattern. Maybe it started out as a joke but I still have a few in my box. I have also substituted the color in the tail with chartrues green and also a pink. You can see it on the water really well. It has worked well for me.

Sorry you had such a bad experience Fulano. I think the joke is that everyone thinks it's not a good pattern.

[Fred]

its just a griffith knat with an erection, sporting a Glen Plake coif.

Fred tied up two dozen before he caught on.

Actually, I tied two.

And then I kicked Lonnie's Ass.

J/K.

The Griffith's Gnat is a great fly. I recommend it over teh A-Hold Midge. It's one of those flies that doesn't really "match the hatch" on any given day, but when you see that big fat scum sucker feeding in the back eddy on midges, throw it on and let it drift. I've caught some memorable fish on that fly and, on times when I couldn't catch a cold, I've seen fish landed with the Gnat by other anglers.

"What ya usin?"

"Griffith's Gnat"

"Stick it up your...."

Anyway, if I really had to choose, I would take the mating midge as a cluster pattern over the Griffith's Gnat. Although it doesn't have the magical peacock herl, it seems more realistic. It's good fly. The two-bead midge that is recommended by Trout Creek Flies is sometimes an effective midge cluster. I have also used a trico spinner to imitate midge clusters.

Have fun.