Michigan Flies

Flies / Egg

Otter's Soft Milking Egg

A

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.

#12–16ApricotKiwi OpaqueTangerine Opaqueclear water
What the pattern looks like
Reference photos of the Otter's Soft Milking Egg tied by others, shared by their photographers. Not our flies; our own product photos replace these as they are shot.

Photo © Quinn, used with permission

Season
Months this pattern is in play across Michigan, derived from what it imitates.
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Imitates

Eggs

  • Steelhead eggs4–5 mm
  • Brown trout eggs (resident and lake-run)4–5 mm
  • White and longnose sucker eggs3–3.1 mm
  • Coho salmon eggs6–8 mm
Fish it for
SteelheadBrown troutRainbow trout (resident)

Setups

  • Indicator nymphing
  • Euro / tight-line nymphing
How it's tied
A
Not a tied egg but a moulded soft-rubber one: slide it onto a hook against a thread dam, glue it, and add a wisp of yarn veil if you like. It 'milks' when wet, and fish hold it. Our own write-up of the standard tie, checked against the sources below. Recipe by The Fly Fishers (Montana Fly Company product listing).

Materials

Hook
Short heavy scud or egg hook in 12 to 16 (our sizes); Montana Fly Company's factory-tied versions use a size 12 hook with a 6 mm egg and a size 6 with a 10 mm eggBlue Quill Angler sells the tied fly on a size 14.
Thread
Our choice: 6/0 or 70 denier in the egg colour, or white under a pale egg
Egg
Otter's Soft Egg material (Montana Fly Company), 4 mm, 6 mm or 10 mm; 12 per packColours: Apricot, Apricot Opaque, Kiwi, Ruby, Tangerine, Tangerine Red, Tango. Our Kiwi Opaque and Tangerine Opaque are the tied-fly colours at Blue Quill Angler.
Veiloptional
A sparse wisp of white or pale Glo Bug yarnThe Soft Milking Egg as sold has a soft yarn veil; the bare material page says a veil can be tied in ahead of the egg.
Adhesive
Zap-A-Gap or similar cyanoacrylate

Steps

  1. 1.Debarb the hook. Start the thread behind the eye and wrap a rough thread base over the middle of the shank, where the egg will sit; whip finish and cut the thread.
  2. 2.Put a drop of Zap-A-Gap on that thread base.
  3. 3.Push the point of the hook through the centre of the soft egg and slide the egg around the bend and up onto the glued thread base so it sits centred on the shank.
  4. 4.Restart the thread in front of the egg and build a small dam of tight wraps against it so it cannot slide toward the eye.
  5. 5.For the veil, tie a thin wisp of pale yarn in at the dam pointing forward over the eye, then fold it back over the egg and lock it with a few wraps so the fibres surround the egg loosely.
  6. 6.Whip finish against the egg, cut the thread and cement the dam. Trim the veil so it reaches just past the egg.

From the tier

  • Montana Fly Company's rigging note, as sold: lay down a thread base, apply Zap-A-Gap, slide the egg on; a veil can be tied in first ahead of the egg.
  • Origin: Speedline Fishing's listing credits Walt Mueller Jr., known as 'The Otter', with developing and marketing the Soft Milking Egg since 2002, originally for Great Lakes steelhead; Schultz Outfitters' listing credits Scott 'Otter' Miller. Treat the name as unconfirmed.
  • Where to buy: Schultz Outfitters (Ypsilanti, Michigan) stocks the MFC material; the material and the factory-tied Soft Milking Egg are also sold by J. Stockard, AvidMax, Blue Quill Angler, Pacific Fly Fishers, Trident Fly Fishing, The Fly Fishers, Big Y Fly Co and Bass Pro Shops.

MFC Otter's Soft Egg Material The rigging steps expand the three-line instruction on the MFC material listings (thread base, Zap-A-Gap, optional veil); the veil sequence is our own standard method, not from a source. Unconfirmed: Developer identity conflicts between retailers, and no page from an 'Otter's Soft Egg Company' itself was found. Egg diameter per hook size is from retailer listings; the material comes in 4, 6 and 10 mm. Also checked against Schultz Outfitters, Ypsilanti, Michigan, MFC Otter's Soft Egg Material, The Blue Quill Angler, Otter's Soft Milking Egg, Speedline Fishing, Otters Soft Milking Egg (sizes 10 and 12), Trident Fly Fishing, Otter's Soft Milking Egg Cluster Fly and Big Time Flies, Otter's Soft Milking Egg - Apricot.

Materials to buy
Everything one Otter's Soft Milking Egg takes, each item once: 4 items, plus 1 optional. Quantities are for a single fly. We do not sell components yet; when we do, these will link to them.

Hook and hardware

  • Short heavy scud or egg hook1

    size 12 to 16

    Hook

Synthetics, flash and legs

  • Glo Bugs yarn, paleoptional1 bag

    White or Cream Delight · The Bug Shop

    Veil

Thread and finish

  • Tying thread1 spool

    6/0 or 70 denier, egg colour or white

    Thread

  • Zap-A-Gap1 bottle

    Adhesive

Other

  • Otter's Soft Egg material1 pack of 12 per colour

    6 mm for size 12 to 14, 4 mm for size 16; Apricot, Kiwi, Tangerine · Montana Fly Company

    Egg

Sources