Pattern Description:
The Rojo Midge comes from the vise of Greg Garcia. Many of you know Greg from his work in one of our local front-range shops. Methodical would be a good descriptor for Greg’s work. The Rojo was Greg’s first pattern with Umpqua Feather Merchants, and it was a wise choice. The small glass bead combined with a gill tuft and bright wire rib make for a killing fly. Fish the Rojo as you would any other midge pattern, with some weight on the leader and an indicator. Greg assures me that it will make a believer of you too!
Materials Needed:
Hook: TMC 200r #16-22
Thread: UNI 8/0 Light Olive
Bead: X-Small Red Glass Bead
Gill Tuft: Ultra-Floss Dental Floss
Rib: Chartreuse Lagartun Wire, fine
Abdomen: Tying Thread
Collar: Bright Green Dyed Peacock Herl
Step 1
Step 2
Place the bead on the hook, but do NOT push it up to the hook eye. Leave it about at the center of the hook shank. You may need to smash the barb on this hook to get the bead on.
Step 3
Start the tying thread immediately behind the eye of the hook, but do not travel back with it. Keep this tie in very thin.
Step 4
Brush out one end of a chunk of Ultra-Floss so the fibers are bushy and separated.
Step 5
Tie this Floss in immediately behind the eye of the hook with a few tight turns of thread. Be careful not to build up too much bulk.
Step 6
Cut the back end of the floss flush against the shank and cover the butt end with a layer of tying thread. Whip finish the thread and clip it.
Step 7
Push the bead up to the eye over the thread base and re-attach the tying thread at the back edge of the bead. Build a smooth layer of thread about halfway down the shank and return the thread to the back of the bead.
Step 8
Tie in a length of chartreuse wire at the back edge of the bead. Hold the wire along the near side of the hook and begin wrapping the tying thread over it to the bend.
Step 9
Wrap back over the wire all the way to the bend of the hook. Return the thread to the back edge of the bead forming a slightly tapered body in the process.
Step 10
Spiral wrap the wire forward to the back edge of the bead and tie it off there. Clip the excess wire.
Step 11
Clip the tips from two peacock herls and tie them in by the tips at the back edge of the bead.
Step 12
Wrap the peacock herls around the shank right behind the bead forming a short collar. Tie off the peacock herls and clip them.
Step 13
Whip finish the thread right behind the bead and clip. Trim the Ultra-Floss so it is about a quarter shank long.
Step 14
Garcia’s Rojo Midge Red. Red thread body with red wire rib, all other components are the same as the olive version.