midges two by two?

This topic is about the True Fly Family Chironomidae

Midges are the most important aquatic insects in some places, especially fertile spring creeks where they are extremely abundant and the current is so slow that it's efficient for trout to surface feed on very tiny insects.

Some midges are large, up to hook size 14, but the majority are size 22 or smaller. The number of genera and species is hopelessly huge for angler entomologists to ever learn, and the identifing characteristics often require slide-mounting tiny parts under high-powered microscopes. Even the most Latin-minded fisherman must slip back to the basics--size and color--to describe his local midge hatches. Read more...

Chironomidae (Midges) Midge Pupa (3 Pictures)

Chironomidae (Midges) Midge Larva (2 Pictures)

Male Stictochironomus Midge Adult (11 Pictures)

There are 20 more specimens...

The Discussion

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CaseyP	May 24th, 2007, 7:13 am
Arlington, VA/ Mercersburg, PA Posts: 557	in the air over the stream last night was a cloud of "midges", all floating in pairs. the hundreds of pairs looked like little colons (:), little black dots keeping a constant distance. you had to see it to believe it. mating dances? has anyone else seen this? river: Little Juniata, PA water temp: 62 degrees air temp: high 70s time: twilight
	"You can observe a lot by watching." Yogi Berra

Troutnut	May 24th, 2007, 7:39 am
The Admin Fairbanks, AK Posts: 2020	Can't say that I have. Maybe they were all joined mating?
	Jason Neuswanger The Troutnut

CaseyP	May 24th, 2007, 9:02 am
Arlington, VA/ Mercersburg, PA Posts: 557	the pairs were closer to each other than to other pairs, and the pairs were about equidistant from other pairs as they moved in the air. it looked like space was important, like birds on a wire; one of nature's really amazing regular patterns, i guess.
	"You can observe a lot by watching." Yogi Berra

Troutnut	May 24th, 2007, 9:49 am
The Admin Fairbanks, AK Posts: 2020	Oh, so they weren't touching. I guess that rules out mating. Still probably some behavior related to that. It sounds really interesting.
	Jason Neuswanger The Troutnut

CaseyP	May 25th, 2007, 7:24 pm
Arlington, VA/ Mercersburg, PA Posts: 557	can we post video on this board? my camera can take short sequences of up to a minute, so next time i see this midge dancing class i'll think to record it.
	"You can observe a lot by watching." Yogi Berra

Martinlf	May 26th, 2007, 5:25 pm
Moderator Palmyra PA Posts: 1714	Casey, wish I'd known you were up at the J. I just returned from a two night trip (24th and 25th), and Jason joined me last night for a dense sulphur spinner fall. I'll let him tell you about it. How was your fishing?
	"He spread them a yard and a half. 'And every one that got away is this big.'" --Fred Chappell

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Troutnut Forum > Fly Hatch Talk > midges two by two?

This topic is about the True Fly Family Chironomidae

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