Fly patterns

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

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)

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

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

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

A Galloup articulated streamer with a broad marabou and rabbit profile and a heavy head for deep, fast runs. Not named in the Michigan notes; treat it as a generic member of the Michigan-born articulated family, in black or dark olive for high or stained spring and fall water.

Streamers

A Galloup articulated streamer with a rabbit-strip body and a deer-hair collar, a slimmer cousin of the Sex Dungeon from the Michigan streamer school. The notes did not find a Michigan source naming it; fish it as you would a Zoo Cougar in the April to May and late September to November streamer windows.

Streamers

An Au Sable guide calls crayfish 'one of the main staples of a brown trout's diet,' the Escanaba is fished with crayfish patterns, and Michigan steelhead stomachs have held crayfish. Bounce a rust or olive crayfish along the bottom of gravel runs in summer and early fall, or use Crawdad Orange streamers in stained water.

Streamers · Indicator nymphing

A yolk-sac fry imitation in Chuck Hawkins' spring Great Lakes top five, dead-drifted or swung when Chinook alevins emerge from the gravel in March and April; fish also take it as a caddis larva dislodged by spawning steelhead. Michigan TU notes alevin and smelt patterns are effective in spring on rivers with a prior fall salmon run.

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

Hawkins' olive streamer for cloudy days and slightly stained water on the Manistee and Boardman, part of his top ten Michigan flies with the natural Nutcracker and the ginger Little Rascal. Strip it along wood and undercut banks in April, May and the fall.

Streamers

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

Chuck Hawkins' natural-colored streamer, one of three he names for northern Michigan's 'big, difficult trout' where 'streamer fishing is a staple.' Fish it in clear water on the Upper Manistee and Boardman in spring and fall when a subdued fly moves more fish than a bright one.

Streamers

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)

A sleek, neutrally buoyant articulated baitfish with a small amount of flash, MeatEater's pick for low, clear fall water when big browns want a natural profile rather than a heavy head. Fish it with a slow, erratic retrieve on a floating or intermediate line in October and November and again in clear April flows.

Streamers

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

One of Galloup's early Manistee patterns alongside the Zoo Cougar, a heavier bottom-hugging sculpin for the deeper runs. Fish it on a full sink or heavy tip with short rod-animated strips through log jams in spring and fall, and slow in winter on the extended-season Manistee and Boardman.

Streamers