Fly patterns

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 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Michigan charts list the Early Brown Stonefly #10 to #14 from March 15 to May 10, 1 to 7 pm, following the black stones as the trout opener approaches. Dead-drift a brown stone nymph along the edges of riffles in April on the Au Sable and Manistee before the Hendricksons start.

Indicator nymphing · Euro / tight-line nymphing

An articulated Hexagenia nymph from Feenstra's favorites: a size 10 rear hook of possum tufts and dirty yellow dubbing joined by 20 lb mono to a size 6 front hook with mono eyes, a brown hen-hackle leg pull and an Antron shellback. The wiggle of the two hooks does what a burrowing Hex nymph does in the drift. Spring steelhead on the Muskegon eat Hex nymphs, and it stays in play for browns through the July hatch.

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

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

Brachycentrus emerges in intense afternoon bursts once water holds in the low 50s, from late April on Michigan charts (Mother's Day caddis), a week or two later in the U.P. Swing or dead-drift a green-bodied pupa toward the surface in the hour before the adults appear, then fish it as a dropper behind an Elk Hair Caddis.

Indicator nymphing · Dry fly · Euro / tight-line nymphing

The fished stage of the Isonychia on Michigan rivers, since the strong-swimming nymphs migrate to the bank to crawl out. Swing or twitch it through cobble riffles in the evening from June to September on the Au Sable, Upper Manistee, Boardman and Muskegon.

Indicator nymphing · Euro / tight-line nymphing

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 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

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)

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

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

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

Hydropsyche and Cheumatopsyche net-spinners are the season-long caddis from May through September on every Michigan river, and the Muskegon is 'world renowned' for them. Pupal wing pads darken a day before emergence; swing a tan or olive pupa on the rise toward dusk, or hang it under an Elk Hair. St. Marys Atlantics feed on caddis pupae from mid July.

Indicator nymphing · Dry fly · Euro / tight-line nymphing

A soft silicone worm with more action than chenille, fished the same way as a San Juan in high spring water for trout and steelhead. Not named in Michigan sources; a generic runoff fly that pairs with a Clown Egg under an indicator from March through May. Silicone counts as an artificial fly only if it is attached with thread and unscented.

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

A worm-like one to three inch larva that gets dislodged in high water, when it is most useful as a heavy point fly. Michigan sources treat crane flies mainly as yellow adults beside the Sulphurs, so this is a generic high-water nymph for spring and fall flows.

Indicator nymphing · Euro / tight-line nymphing

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

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