Two Hearted River box

A cluster-midge dry for trout surface-feeding on winter midges near Muskegon springs and on summer evenings on northern rivers. Fish it on 6X to 7X in slow seams when fish are dimpling on clusters of adults, typically warm afternoons from December through April on the tailwaters.

Dry fly

Michigan's own fly, born on the Boardman, and still the default searching dry on every river in the state. Hawkins recommends a slim-tied #10 to #12 Adams for Gray Drake spinner falls at dusk on the Pere Marquette and Muskegon, and smaller sizes pass for most gray-winged mayflies from April through October.

Dry fly

Grayling's dark all-purpose mayfly, listed by Hawkins in #10 to #16 for Mahogany and Isonychia spinners. It doubles as a Hendrickson and Black Quill dun in spring and a fall Mahogany Dun on the Pere Marquette from mid September through October. Fish it at dusk for Iso spinner falls from June through September.

Dry fly

Baetis hatch three broods in Michigan, with the biggest in early May, a second in late June and a third in September, and they run through winter on the Muskegon and Big Manistee tailwaters. Current Works lists BWOs #16 to #22 as year-round on the Upper Manistee. Fish it midday, especially on overcast, drizzly afternoons, and go down to #24 for the late-season Pseudocloeon on the Muskegon.

Dry fly

The all-purpose adult caddis for Michigan's May through October caddis season, which Houghton's Manistee work shows peaking in early to mid July with flight heaviest an hour or two after sunset. Carry tan #14 to #16 for Hydropsyche, black #16 to #20 for the spring black caddis, and #8 to #10 orange for October Caddis. Skitter it at dusk when egg-layers are on the water.

Dry fly

For the fall Mahogany Duns that draw feeding fish on the Pere Marquette from mid September through October, and the Slate Wing Mahoganies of U.P. charts. Fish it on cool afternoons in slow seams; it also matches the spring Blue Quill in #16 to #18.

Dry fly

The Au Sable guide standard for the first of the Big Five hatches, fished from the last week of April into mid May when water holds 50 to 55 F. Duns come off mid-afternoon (2 to 5 pm on the Au Sable) for one to two hours; drift it drag-free over riffles and tailouts. Carry both the dark male and lighter female shades in #12 and #14.

Dry fly

Rusty spinner for the Hendrickson fall, which happens late afternoon into dusk over riffles and is often compressed into about thirty minutes. Cool evenings suppress the fall and push it to the next morning. Fish it flush in the film below riffles from late April through mid May.

Dry fly

Hex spinners fall shortly after dark one to three nights after the duns emerge, and the spent-wing pattern is what the largest browns eat once the flat is covered in dead bugs. Fish a #4 to #8 spinner from about 10:30 pm on Au Sable, Manistee and Pere Marquette silt flats in late June and early July.

Dry fly

A Hex dun named by Hawkins for the giant Michigan mayfly, which emerges after dark once water reaches 68 F, peaking June 21 to July 7 on the Au Sable and Manistee (June 8 to 20 on the Muskegon, two to three weeks later in the U.P.). Fish it from 10 pm on a 6 ft 2X leader over silt banks, casting to the sound of rises.

Dry fly

A CDC-winged adult early black stonefly for the egg-laying flights on warm late-winter afternoons, when females beat their wings continuously on the surface. Fish it noon to 4 pm on the Muskegon and Pere Marquette from late February through April for resident trout and the occasional rising steelhead.

Dry fly

Black-bodied #20 to #24 midges are the main winter food on the Muskegon tailwater from November through April, with heavy hatches near springs on warm afternoons. Fish a Zebra Midge as a dropper under a small indicator or behind a scud; it also takes pink salmon in clear water and St. Marys Atlantics feeding on midges in late summer.

Indicator nymphing · Euro / tight-line nymphing

A U.P. steelhead guide's nymph rig runs double-bead stoneflies and Pat's Rubber Legs #8 to #10 in black and brown as the point fly ahead of an egg or caddis. For trout it is a generic big stonefly for the Pine, Upper Manistee and Sturgeon, fished deep in fast water year-round; Michigan trout sources do not name it, so treat the trout use as generic.

Indicator nymphing · Chuck and duck · Euro / tight-line nymphing

The Little Black Stonefly (Allocapnia, Taeniopteryx) is the first insect steelhead see in numbers, peaking late February through April, and Current Works ranks it among Michigan's top five steelhead flies, best on sunny days in clear water. Nymphs stir at 36 F water and crawl on shelf ice; fish a weighted #8 to #12 stone as the point fly with an egg on a tag, and #14 to #18 for the tiny winter stones. Chuck Hawkins ties it large during spring runoff.

Indicator nymphing · Chuck and duck · Euro / tight-line nymphing

The generalist buggy nymph for Michigan's clinger mayflies and caddis pupae, and MidCurrent lists a #10 to #14 Hare's Ear among winter steelhead nymphs. Dead-drift it under an indicator all season for trout, and as a trailer behind an egg or stonefly for steelhead.

Indicator nymphing · Euro / tight-line nymphing

Old Au Sable Fly Shop names a #12 to #14 Pheasant Tail as the Hendrickson nymph, and it covers every Michigan Ephemerella and Baetis nymph before and during a hatch. A beadhead #10 is a standard trailer fly in U.P. steelhead rigs, and #12 to #20 versions take pink salmon in clear water. Fish it dead-drifted under an indicator or on a tight line in the weeks before each mayfly hatch.

Indicator nymphing · Euro / tight-line nymphing

Scuds #18 are the Muskegon's January to April staple beside midges, and Current Works lists scuds and sowbugs first for the Big Manistee below Tippy Dam. Supinski's winter steelhead list includes scuds. Fish an olive or gray scud dead-drift in weedy tailwater runs year-round, and orange for dead or molting scuds.

Indicator nymphing · Euro / tight-line nymphing

Current Works' number one Michigan steelhead fly, because most steelhead rivers (Muskegon, Manistee, Pere Marquette, Au Sable, St. Marys) hold silt-burrowing Hexagenia and trout may see up to 2,000 nymphs a day outside the hatch. Fish #6 to #8 under an indicator or chuck-and-duck year-round for steelhead, in the two weeks before the June hatch for trout, and in July for St. Marys Atlantic salmon.

Indicator nymphing · Chuck and duck · Euro / tight-line nymphing

Current Works pairs sowbugs with scuds, midges, Baetis, eggs and fry as the year-round diet of trout below Tippy Dam on the Big Manistee. A flat gray sowbug #14 to #18 fished slow and deep in vegetation and gravel seams is a winter and early-spring tailwater fly.

Indicator nymphing · Euro / tight-line nymphing

Pteronarcys dorsata nymphs live two to four years, so the #2 to #6 nymph is available all year and is the Pine River staple, where Hawkins calls it a river of nymphs, sculpins and baitfish rather than a surface river. Bounce it through fast pockets on the Pine, Sturgeon and Upper Manistee; the adults emerge sporadically at night from mid May to June and are rarely fished.

Indicator nymphing · Euro / tight-line nymphing · Chuck and duck

Current Works lists the 20 Incher among its Michigan steelhead stoneflies #6 to #12, alongside Ted's Early Black Stone and Mercer's Biot Epoxy Stone. It doubles as a golden stone nymph for trout from mid May through August, fished tight to the banks where Acroneuria nymphs migrate before crawling out.

Indicator nymphing · Chuck and duck · Euro / tight-line nymphing

A yellow chenille and fox squirrel Hex nymph that has been a Michigan steelhead fly for more than fifty years. Schrems West Michigan TU calls it effective year-round and especially in winter on the Muskegon. Dead-drift it on the bottom in runs below gravel; the bright variants double as an attractor in stained water.

Indicator nymphing · Chuck and duck

A tungsten, articulated early black stonefly nymph from Hallowed Waters for the February through May Allocapnia and Taeniopteryx drift on the Muskegon tailwater and other alkaline groundwater rivers. Fish it on warm sunny afternoons from 1 to 4 pm when the nymphs migrate toward the banks.

Indicator nymphing · Euro / tight-line nymphing

A Michigan steelhead staple: the green Rhyacophila larva is 'effective on the Muskegon River for steelhead' and Current Works lists caddis #6 to #12 among its top five, bright green or chartreuse for stained water and olive or cream naturals for low clear flows. Betts names green caddis larvae with Hex nymphs and eggs on the Pere Marquette flies-only water. Fish it as the trailer behind an egg or stonefly, year-round.

Indicator nymphing · Chuck and duck · Euro / tight-line nymphing

Perfect Fly lists wet flies among St. Marys Atlantic salmon patterns, and Atlantics feed on caddis and midges from mid July through August. A swung soft hackle covers emerging caddis pupae and Sulphurs on any Michigan river; swing it down and across in riffles at dusk, or hang it below a dry.

Swinging flies (spey / switch) · Dry fly · Indicator nymphing

A weighted, rubber-legged Michigan classic that Hawkins fishes 'on a floating line near the structure' and says 'can produce at times when nothing else will.' Current Works lists Skunks among its terrestrials. Twitch it along banks and through log jams from late May through September as a cross between a drowned hopper and a small sculpin.

Streamers · Indicator nymphing

The most-cited Michigan salmon fly: black, olive and purple buggers for Chinook and coho, 'essential' on the Pere Marquette, swung or dead-drifted into staged fish from September through October, especially in off-color water. A #8 beadhead in black, olive or pink is the standard pink salmon fly on the St. Marys and Carp in September, and #8 to #12 buggers serve brook trout and small browns all season. Downsize and slow down for trout, upsize and add a hot head for salmon.

Streamers · Swinging flies (spey / switch) · Indicator nymphing · Chuck and duck

The deer-hair-head sculpin archetype that every Michigan articulated streamer descends from. Slimy and mottled sculpins are the most available forage in Michigan trout streams (about 90 percent of prey in the Anna River), so a #4 to #8 Muddler fished dead-drift and stripped along the bottom works year-round; small Muddlers #8 to #12 serve brook trout, and a weighted #8 takes pink salmon.

Streamers · Swinging flies (spey / switch)

A leech profile with an egg hot spot, recognized as one of the most effective flies on Great Lakes tributary steelhead streams and, per Current Works, less intrusive than most patterns for selective fish. Betts fishes it for Pere Marquette fall salmon, and Michigan coho anglers swing it through runs and tailouts. Dead-drift or swing black, purple or olive bodies with chartreuse, orange, red or pink heads from September through April; #8 versions take pink salmon.

Swinging flies (spey / switch) · Indicator nymphing · Chuck and duck · Streamers

Developed by Kelly Galloup in the mid 1990s for the Manistee, a neutrally buoyant deer-hair sculpin that dives and darts on a sink tip. The original is a mellow sulphur yellow; Galloup's rotation runs white, black, tan, olive, yellow and chartreuse, with light colors on bright days, olive or gray under clouds and tan when the river 'turns yellow' in late afternoon. Fish #2 to #4 hardest in April and May and late September through November, and #6 through summer at dawn and dusk.

Streamers

Developed around 2000 by Russ Maddin while at Galloup's Troutsman shop, the articulated fly that 'ushered in the age of articulated streamers,' used on the Au Sable and Manistee for big browns. Streamside sells it in Root Beer, a crayfish-brown that fishes in average flows on sunny or stained days. Strip it with a jerk-strip retrieve in April, May and the pre-spawn fall.

Streamers

Tommy Lynch's wedge-headed articulated fly that 'swims differently with every strip to mimic an injured baitfish,' with a profile largest at the head and slender behind. Retrieve it with one sharp pop, three short strips, then let it swim and die out; several Pere Marquette and Upper Manistee browns over 24 inches have taken it. Best on a floating or intermediate line over structure in spring and fall.

Streamers

Galloup's heavy-headed articulated streamer: natural 'mimics everything from sculpins to juvenile trout and chub minnows' and is the go-to in clear or pressured water, olive suits clear to slightly stained flows, and Crawdad Orange is for off-color or stained water. Fish four to six inch versions with a heavy tip in spring runoff and again in October and November; MeatEater lists it for average fall flows.

Streamers

Black marabou and schlappen over peacock and orange Ice Dub with pink and copper Flashabou, on a 25 mm Senyo shank with a trailer or a Daiichi 2461. Originating on the Muskegon, it is 'great through fall' when steelhead have switched from lake alewife to river shiners and respond to flash. Swing it from October through December.

Swinging flies (spey / switch)

Current Works' Steelhead Bugger #6 sits in its Michigan top five, and U.P. guides run a beadhead Woolly Bugger #8 in black or green in the nymph rig. Dead-drift it as the point fly with an egg trailing, or swing it through tailouts; it covers leeches, sculpins and crayfish at once.

Indicator nymphing · Chuck and duck · Swinging flies (spey / switch)

Current Works reaches for black leeches (String Leech, Silvey's Tail Light, Miles Davis, Larimer's Reverse Marabou) in high, dirty water, when a dark silhouette shows better than any natural color. Betsie salmon anglers use dark leeches with flash dead-drifted or swung. Fish it during spring runoff and after fall rains.

Swinging flies (spey / switch) · Chuck and duck · Streamers

Current Works strips a Flashtail Clouser on sink tips for fresh Betsie and Manistee salmon, and chartreuse/white and pink Clousers are coho standards. In white and gray it doubles as a smelt or alewife imitation for St. Marys Atlantics in late June and July. Fish it with fast strips in the lowest holding water above the lake.

Streamers · Swinging flies (spey / switch)

The smallest of Hawkins' three named streamers, a ginger fly that reads as a small sculpin or crayfish. Its size makes it the summer and low-water choice on the Boardman and Upper Manistee, following Galloup's 'when in doubt, go small' rule.

Streamers

A bright pink and chartreuse head over a leech body on a #2 to #4 3XL streamer hook, 'one of the most reliable Midwest swung fly patterns' and exceptional in cold winter water when steelhead are lethargic. Swing it slow and deep on a Skagit head and sink tip from November through the spring on the Muskegon, Manistee and U.P. rivers.

Swinging flies (spey / switch)

Betts reports large trout and steelhead 'feeding heavily on Chinook salmon fry along the shoreline' of the Muskegon from March into June, when salmon fry, steelhead fry and sucker fry are the bulk of the trout diet. Feenstra adds that sucker fry have a purplish hue, so lavender and pink tones work. Strip or swing a #8 to #12 fry along shallow edges.

Streamers · Indicator nymphing · Swinging flies (spey / switch)

The original yarn egg, still in every Michigan steelhead box in Oregon Cheese, Golden and Chartreuse per Current Works, with a #12 short-shank scud hook the all-around Pere Marquette size and #14 to #16 for low clear water. For salmon, Trails to Trout advises blue, black and chartreuse pre-spawn and red, pink and orange during the spawn, in #6 to #8. Cream and pale yellow versions carry through the winter and the April to May sucker spawn.

Indicator nymphing · Chuck and duck · Euro / tight-line nymphing

A multi-egg yarn or chenille cluster suggesting several 7 to 8 mm Chinook eggs washed out of a redd together. Use it #4 to #8 in high or stained October water below spawning kings and coho, keeping the hook gap under a half inch to remain a legal artificial fly on Michigan streams.

Chuck and duck · Indicator nymphing

A multi-color yarn rag egg that Hawkins calls 'a deadly fly' under a float on the Manistee and that 'will fool most salmon and steelhead.' Chuck Hawkins sizes it dime-sized in pinks and oranges before runoff, quarter-sized in chartreuse, orange and bright yellow during runoff, and muted afterward; Kraimer fishes a quarter-sized Clown as the attractor above a smaller realistic egg. Fish it under an 8 to 20 g float or chuck-and-duck from fall through April.

Indicator nymphing · Chuck and duck

A McFly Foam or Glo Bug yarn core under a yarn veil that goes translucent when wet, imitating the milky, non-viable eggs that make up most of the drift. Tied on a Gamakatsu C14S or TMC 2457 #8 to #12 (TMC 105 #6 to #10 for salmon); natural combinations for clear water, Chartreuse over Flame and Flame over Cerise for high or stained flows. Fish it behind spawning salmon from September through November, with aging-egg colors through winter, and natural steelhead-egg shades in March and April on the Manistee, Betsie, PM, Muskegon and Au Sable.

Indicator nymphing · Chuck and duck · Euro / tight-line nymphing

Loops of angora or knitting yarn imitating the 2 to 3 mm pale-yellow egg clusters of white suckers and redhorse, which spawn late April into late May (peak around May 10 in the Detroit River study) on the same gravel trout and drop-back steelhead use. Betts reports over 100,000 redhorse ascending the Muskegon in May and June with big trout feeding behind the redds, and Current Works and Betts both fish pale yellow sucker spawn for spring steelhead and walleye eggs. Fish it #10 to #14 under an indicator directly below sucker redds; the U.P. window runs into June.

Indicator nymphing · Chuck and duck · Euro / tight-line nymphing

A multi-color yarn-loop cluster in the Sucker Spawn family, suggesting a clump of eggs of mixed age. Fish it in pale yellow and cream mixes during the April to May sucker spawn and in orange mixes below salmon redds in fall, sized #8 to #12 for stained water.

Indicator nymphing · Chuck and duck

A small yarn egg of 6 to 8 mm for gin-clear, low water when fish demand smaller, realistic patterns. Trout hooks (Daiichi 1130, TMC 2457) #14 to #16 match the 4 to 5 mm steelhead and brown trout eggs and 2 to 3 mm sucker eggs better than a salmon-sized Glo Bug; fish it on light tippet from winter through the May sucker spawn, and on small inland streams after the October brook trout spawn.

Indicator nymphing · Euro / tight-line nymphing

A two-tone yarn ball tied semi-Glo Bug style that became popular around 2000, typically fluorescent orange over yellow. The orange and yellow split suggests a mixed cluster of steelhead and sucker eggs, which is why it is a late-March through May fly on the Muskegon and PM. Retail sizes #10 to #12.

Indicator nymphing · Chuck and duck

A translucent chenille egg that George Daniel fishes in #16 'sweetcorn' during the sucker spawn, where any egg close to the natural pale-yellow color produces. Fish it as a small dropper below a heavier nymph behind sucker redds in late April and May.

Indicator nymphing · Euro / tight-line nymphing

A soft translucent egg with a milking veil that closely resembles a real egg, sold in #14 in Apricot, Kiwi Opaque and Tangerine Opaque. Supinski names 'Otter Eggs' among Great Lakes winter steelhead staples; fish #14 apricot for pressured fish in low clear water from November through the May sucker spawn.

Indicator nymphing · Euro / tight-line nymphing

Brown flying ants #16 to #22 fall on the Muskegon from mid August to mid September on hot afternoons, and RiverReports notes black and cinnamon flying ants on the Au Sable during late-summer mating flights. Trout key on them hard; carry winged ants on 6X for the two-week window.

Dry fly

Foam back, deer or elk hair body and rabbit-strip tail, sold in #4 and #6, the most widely stocked mouse for Michigan night fishing. Mousing runs July through September with late August and September prime; cast tight to the bank after 10:30 pm and swing or slow-strip it across shallow flats on the Au Sable, Pere Marquette and Upper Manistee at 52 to 68 F water.

Mousing (night)

Foam-lipped gurglers and waking flies round out the Michigan night box per Mangled Fly, pushing a wake that big browns track in the dark. A black gurgler also works for a dark Hex or big caddis after the main hatch; strip it steadily across flats from June to mid September.

Mousing (night)

A chenille worm for high, off-color water in spring and after fall rains, when earthworms and aquatic worms wash into the drift. The DNR lists worms in brook trout diets but the notes found no Michigan guide naming it; fish it as a heavy point fly with an egg or nymph trailer during March to May runoff, including for steelhead.

Indicator nymphing · Euro / tight-line nymphing · Chuck and duck

Pink salmon favor small bright pink or chartreuse beadhead flies with ample flash, so scale everything down: #10 to #14 nymphs and small eggs. Fish them in the St. Marys rapids, the Carp and the Chocolay from late August through early October, heaviest in odd years, in clear water; switch to bright eggs in faster water.

Indicator nymphing · Euro / tight-line nymphing · Swinging flies (spey / switch)