Jujubee Midge by Charlie Craven

I developed my Jujubee Midge over twenty years ago when I was guiding on the South Platte River. Thread midges and the like are productive patterns in Cheesman Canyon, but I needed an edge for these ultra-selective fish. The Jujubee came about quite by accident one day. I was tying braided barracuda flies for an upcoming saltwater trip using SuperHair for the bodies when I looked at the SuperHair in a different way. What if I wrapped it around a hook to form a midge body, rather than tying it on in hanks as for the Cuda fly? I dug out a few smaller hooks and went to town mixing and matching the SuperHair colors to create different color patterns with contrasting ribs. The result is what you see here today. The SuperHair material is very easy to work with, inexpensive, and quite durable. I have a couple different methods for tying the Jujubee. The method I show here is to tie the abdominal section using white thread, then whip finish and clip the white and start the black thread at the front of the abdomen for the completion of the thorax. Another method that you can use is to stick with the white thread all the way through, but color a few inches of it with a black Sharpie marker before building the thorax and head. either way works well, but I find that when tying a larger batch, it is easier to go through and tie all the abdomens with white thread first, then come back and complete the fly with black thread. Tie up a few Jujubees and stash them in your box. Midge larva and pupae are so prevalent that it is never a bad bet to start off with one on your day astream. I find Jujubees particularly effective in the winter and spring but have had several mid-summer trips saved by my old reliable Juju. And because I’m sure you’re wondering, the Jujubee got its name from my daughter, Julie, who I’ve called Jujubee since birth. It all starts to make sense now…
MATERIALS:
HOOK: #16-22 TMC 2488
THREAD: WHITE TMC 16/0 OR WHITE VEEVUS 14/0
ABDOMEN: TWO STRANDS OF CHARTREUSE COLOR SUPERHAIR AND ONE STRAND OF BLACK
THORAX: BLACK 8/0 UNI-THREAD
WING CASE: WHITE FLUORO FIBRE