How to Tie a Mercury Midge

An effective and easy-to-tie pattern, Pat Dorsey’s Mercury Midge is a great fly to start with as a novice tier wanting to learn small flies.   Here Tim Flagler ties one on a size 22 hook and uses a glass bead, which imitates a tiny air bubble.

“I know some people who use them year-round,” says Flagler, “but for me Pat Dorsey’s creation is kind of a quintessential winter midge pattern.”