Midge Bamboo Rods

[czkid]

[glow][/glow]Strange...I was actually out today comparing my early PHY Midge to a copy of the PHY Little Giant. It was supposed to occur on a local tailwater, but the TVA changed their release schedule in anticipation of some incoming rain. My Midge is marked HEH by Paul, and my Little Giant is an HDH. So I ended up on my favorite pond to try the 6'3" Midge against the 6'6" Little Giant. Dead calm day, and although the Midge is a far more "delicate" looking rod, they both felt quite similar and the distance achieved was consistently about 5 ft. greater with the Little Giant with a tiny popping bug. The major difference was that with a similar sized bream on, the Midge bent appreciatively more than the Little Giant. Surprisingly, the "feel " was not markedly different. The Little Giant is probably a more "all around" choice, yet both of them are startlingly efficient tools. That said, I'd limit both of them to a medium size stream environment, but in a pinch, either would work well up to a 5 pound trout. Although you'd probably have your heart in your mouth the whole time.

[ReelPatina]

I have a Summers 6’6” Midge marked for a 3 or 4 with a ventilated grip. I like mine with plastic and Silk DT 4’s. I truly appreciate everything about the entire experience of owning and fishing the rod. I can say that it is one that will be with me for the duration.

I am also fortunate to own an original beautiful choice Payne 96 6’6”, but for me when choosing the Summers has not missed a trip since I have owned it. That should say something about my reverence of Bobs work and how the rod handles.

The 2 PHY Midges that I have been fortunate to have cast both gave the impression of feeling stronger than that of my Summers. Rightfully so since mine is stretched. I own a few PHY’s non of which are midges , but I get the theme comparing them to the Summers’. Bob has refined PHY’s creations and in a nice way similar to a finely aged bourbon, heavenly smoothed out.

Midges are a great genre of rod and I would be happy if the spectrum of them 5’-6’8” were my quiver not unlike one goes 7’-8’6” normally. Munsey’s offerings sound delicious to say the least and having seen his work at the Catskill gathering even more so.

[St Vrain Angler]

My Tom Ciemiega 6’3” 4wt (diminutive cork grip & reel seat) is the only midge I've ever cast, but it has all the good qualities attributed to other makers' midges. Truly a joy to fish and admire.

[RichieT79]

I would like to second the Bill Critchfield midge. Mine is a 6'6" 3-4 weight, which handle both well. I have not cast the real thing, but I find myself routinely grabbing mine for any small stream or fish work. I love it for dries but it also handles small nymphs. The added benefit is I am not scared to fish it as it is a fraction the cost of the real thing.

Rich

[Capt. Frank]

I have a Garrison taper midge, built by John Zimny, it is a great 3 wt.

[jmcj1984]

Please help ,is it a specific type of taper or the length of a rod that makes it a midge? Would a 6 ft Edward quad 4w be classified as a midge? Thanks for the help.

[GMflyf1sh]

I love my Midge Clone 6’4”
. It was made by former Bozeman Rod maker Scott Matrinka. It is one piece. Throws a tight loop and fishes very well at 20-40 feet which is where I fish.

[ashwa64]

what makes a rod a 'midge' exactly? i am a huge admirer of phy, bob summers, and other mi builders, dickerson, etc. and am quite familiar with their work, specifically their 'midge' tapers. bob is a living legend- no doubt- i'm a huge fan of his rods. i also have a wojnicki 2pc 5'11" 3wt that is one of my favorite and most versatile rods that i would be inclined to add to this category. i prefer a rod that flexes through the butt along with the backbone to control and land a large fish when needed. i can use the 511 in close quarters with light tippets or over considerable distances with a variety of flies. i fish it mostly on mountain streams in new england, my home waters, and in the rockies and other ranges out west when i am able. it is perfectly capable of landing a large trout, sometimes on the north fork of the white river in missouri, where i was raised.

[quashnet]

is it a specific type of taper or the length of a rod that makes it a midge?

The following quotes by Arnold Gingrich, from the chapter "Paul Young and the Midge Rod" in his book The Well-Tempered Angler (1965), help to define the midge rod. I have added boldface emphasis to the key ideas.

"...the name Midge that [Paul Young] first gave it has become a generic adjective used to describe all split cane rods with light mountings, measuring under seven feet and weighing two ounces or less. But Paul Young was certainly the one who took the midge rod out of the toy or novelty class and and made it the versatile rod it has become...widely used on everything from bluegills and bass on through all the salmonids..."

"The rod seems an equal blend of what you naturally think of as opposite qualities, delicacy and power."

[carl otto]

I have seen Paul Young "midge" rods in various lengths from 5'6" to 6'6". Typically they are 3 or 4 weight rods. The Bob Summers 6'4" "midge" I owned was a very nice cross over rod casting a 4 weight well out to about 30-35+ feet and then handled a 3 weight well from 30-60 feet. A quick comfortable casting rod not at least bit soft. Luck of the draw I guess.

Carl

[gclark]

Wow, Gingrich’s definition of “length under 7’ and weighing less than 2 oz.” would certainly eliminate a lot of current makers “Midge” rods. I’ve got a Mike Brooks McKenzie Midge, 6’-2” 3wt with aluminum cap/ring reel seat hardware that weighs in at 2.7oz on my digital postal scale. Maybe the “Permacane” impregnated cane along with the wood reel seat filler brings up the weight somewhat.
For comparison, can anyone tell me what the RW Summers 6-2”, 6-4”, and 6-6” Midge rods with the standard 2-ring aluminum reel seats actually weigh? (My assumption is that the weight of the rod is for a completed rod, including grip, reel seat & all hdwe.).

[ReelPatina]

Summers 6’6” as requested… 2.174 oz finished.

[RymanType]

My wife has a Midge on order with Critchfield now. We both thoroughly enjoyed the one we were fortunate to cast at last years BooBash
The work was gorgeous and it fished great on the size Appalachian streams we typically fish.

[gclark]

ReelPatina,
Thanks for the “weigh-in” and photos of the grip/reel seat of your Summers 6-6” Midge. What a great looking rod, and I’ll bet it fishes great as well! Ventilated grip, cork reelseat and alum. rings definitely keep the weight to a minimum. Must be so light in the hand….a true execution of a “Midge” rod.
Gary

[GerardH]

Wow, Gingrich’s definition of “length under 7’ and weighing less than 2 oz.” would certainly eliminate a lot of current makers “Midge” rods. I’ve got a Mike Brooks McKenzie Midge, 6’-2” 3wt with aluminum cap/ring reel seat hardware that weighs in at 2.7oz on my digital postal scale. Maybe the “Permacane” impregnated cane along with the wood reel seat filler brings up the weight somewhat.
For comparison, can anyone tell me what the RW Summers 6-2”, 6-4”, and 6-6” Midge rods with the standard 2-ring aluminum reel seats actually weigh? (My assumption is that the weight of the rod is for a completed rod, including grip, reel seat & all hdwe.).

I just talked to my friend, who has a 6'4" RW Summers Midge (pictured below along with his Summers 275 and PHY Perfectionist) and he said it weighed in at 2.2 oz on his digital scale. That was the same weight I recorded when I was in possession of the rod for a week testing it out. As I had mentioned in an earlier post, the Summers Midge definitely performs differently than the PHY taper -- it's considerably slower and is better at close presentations IMO.



In comparison, my PHY Midge copy, made by PJ Julius, weighs 2.5 oz.



I've cast my copy side-by-side with PHY Midges originals and while it weighs ~3/4 of an oz heavier, it's really not noticeable. I would have to agree that Gingrich had a rather restrictive definition of a Midge.

[quashnet]

I wouldn't say that Gingrich's definition was "restrictive." It was simply an accurate, contemporary report of what he observed sixty-five years ago during Young's development of the PHY Midge model. I have records from the 1950s of Young Midges weighing from 1.71 to 1.82 ounces when they left the shop; the median weight listed was 1.75 ounces. Vivian Kerlee's Midge (which was the first one Gingrich cast, and which started him off on a lifelong infatuation with the Midge rod) weighed 1.74 ounces. In a way Gingrich considered this to be relatively heavy, because he contrasted the Midge with the 6'0" 2/2 Leonard Baby Catskill weighing 15/16 of an ounce and advertised as the lightest rod made. "It was a conversation piece, but it wasn't much more," sniffed Gingrich in the above-cited chapter of The Well-Tempered Angler; "...that first Baby Catskill was as limp as a noodle."

[GerardH]

I wouldn't say that Gingrich's definition was "restrictive." It was simply an accurate, contemporary report of what he observed sixty-five years ago during Young's development of the PHY Midge model.

Of course, in context of the time -- I agree. But today few "Midge" rods would meet his definition, that's what I meant by "restrictive"....or narrowly defined might have been a better way to put it.

There again, he wasn't afraid to land 15lb Atlantic salmon with a PHY Midge, so there's that too.

[quashnet]

Yes, by taking Gingrich's interest in salmon fishing into account, it's easy to imagine that he would be OK with the overall weight of a Midge extending a bit beyond two ounces. Another thing to keep in mind was that Gingrich and his wife owned multiple Midges (as well as other Young rod models), and he clearly felt that in the interest of indulging his passion he could afford to stress a small rod far beyond what you or I might consider appropriate today. Gingrich said that he never broke one while fishing, but more than one of his Midge tips succumbed to a quickly-closed car door. But he could always buy another tip or another rod made by Young or, in the 1960s, by Summers. The cost was dirt cheap compared to financing another of his passions, the violin. Gingrich owned many "fiddles," including a Stradivarius, which (although he apparently got a good deal on it) was hardly inexpensive back then (someday I must read his book A Thousand Mornings of Music: The Journal of an Obsession with the Violin).

[Godfroy]

In the 1950s one could buy a Stradivarius violin for about $10,000. This would be equivalent to about 133 Paul Young Midge rods at $75 each. A Stradivarius violin could now cost $12,000,000 (the Lady Blunt Stradivarius sold for £9.8 million in 2011). If one takes $4000 as a current fair price for a Midge by Paul Young, this is equivalent to 3000 Midge rods.

[CMcDowell]

Did the PY Midge rods have aluminum ferrules?