Michigan Flies

Flies / Egg

Scrambled Eggs

I

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.

#8–12Cream and pale yellow mixPeach and orange mixChartreuse and orange
What the pattern looks like
Reference photos of the Scrambled Eggs 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

  • White and longnose sucker eggs3–3.1 mm
  • Redhorse sucker eggs
  • Chinook salmon eggs6.36–8.36 mm
  • Coho salmon eggs6–8 mm
Fish it for
SteelheadBrown troutRainbow trout (resident)

Setups

  • Indicator nymphing
  • Chuck and duck
How it's tied
A
Scrambled Egg. A tighter, two-tone cousin of the Sucker Spawn: half strands of contrasting egg yarn looped up the shank so each side of the fly shows a different colour. An attractor for fresh-run steelhead. Our own write-up of the standard tie, checked against the sources below. Recipe by Loren Williams.

Materials

Hook
Stout curved scud hook, sizes 6 to 10 (Loren Williams)Our sizes 8 to 12; a TMC 2457 or Gamakatsu C14S fits.
Thread
Thread that matches or blends with the lightest yarn colour (Williams); 6/0 or 70 denier is our choice of weight
Body
Two contrasting colours of Glo Bug yarn, each split lengthwise to half a strand; Mad River Outfitters ties small ones with Micro Glo Bug yarnOur combos: cream and pale yellow; peach and orange; chartreuse and orange. Mad River's shop colours are creamy peach, chartreuse and orange-chartreuse.
Head cementoptional
Thin cement on the head

Steps

  1. 1.Debarb the hook, start the thread behind the eye and wrap to the bend and back so the shank has a slightly rough base for the yarn to grip.
  2. 2.Split a strand of the first egg yarn colour in half lengthwise. Do the same with the second colour, making sure the two halves are the same diameter.
  3. 3.Lay the two halves side by side, not one on top of the other, and trim their ends square together.
  4. 4.Tie the bundle on top of the shank well back toward the bend with firm wraps, then wrap forward and back over the butts a few times so the bundle cannot roll.
  5. 5.Pull the bundle forward under tension, keeping the two colours in their own lanes, then push it back on itself to form a short loop that sits over the previous wraps. Hold it and lock it with two tight wraps in front.
  6. 6.Repeat two or three more times, each loop just ahead of the last. Keep the loops short and tight and the colours side by side so one flank of the fly stays light and the other dark.
  7. 7.Stop short of the eye and build a small tight head underneath the yarn bundle.
  8. 8.Whip finish, cut the thread, then trim the yarn butts close to the head and cement.

From the tier

  • Loren Williams calls it an attractor first: its job on fresh-run steelhead is to get seen. He fishes it under an indicator rather than bottom-bounced, because its big surface area tends to push ahead of the weights on a drift rig.
  • Williams places it in the Sucker Spawn lineage; the differences are tighter loops and the contrast of a different colour down each side, rather than a single hot spot like Jeff Blood's Blood Dot.
  • Mad River Outfitters (Columbus, Ohio, Lake Erie tributaries) lists creamy peach as the guide favourite and orange-chartreuse as the high-water pick, which matches Kraimer's Michigan rule of bright and big in stained spring water, pale and natural in clear.

Scrambled Egg - Loren Williams Fly Tying Tutorials Steps summarize Loren Williams' thirteen-step tutorial, the only full tying source found; Mad River Outfitters supplied shop colours and the micro-yarn note. Williams' page shows no date. Unconfirmed: No Michigan shop tutorial for this exact pattern was found; the Michigan colour guidance is general egg advice from Current Works. Also checked against Mad River Outfitters, Fly Fishing Egg Patterns for Trout (Egg Patterns, Sucker Spawn), MidCurrent, How to Tie Egg Flies for Salmon & Steelhead and Ted Kraimer, Current Works Guide Service, Egg Patterns for Fly Fishing Steelhead, Salmon & Trout.

Materials to buy
Everything one Scrambled Eggs takes, each item once: 3 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

  • Stout curved scud hook1

    size 8 to 12 · TMC 2457 or Gamakatsu C14S

    Hook

Synthetics, flash and legs

  • Glo Bugs yarn, two contrasting colours1 bag per colour (half a strand of each per fly)

    cream and pale yellow; peach and orange; chartreuse and orange · The Bug Shop

    Body

Thread and finish

  • Tying thread1 spool

    6/0 or 70 denier, lightest yarn colour

    Thread

  • Head cementoptional1 bottle

    Head cement

Sources