Fly patterns

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 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

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

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

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 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)

Soft-flowing marabou speys in flame orange or chartreuse are a Great Lakes steelhead swing standard, 'Spey Buggers' appear in U.P. swing boxes, and Perfect Fly lists Spey flies among St. Marys Atlantic salmon patterns. Swing them broadside on a floating or light tip from fall through spring; darker shades for clear water, bright for stain.

Swinging flies (spey / switch)

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

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

Atlantic salmon arrive in the St. Marys tailrace in late June eating smelt and juvenile salmonids, and 'stripping large baitfish imitation patterns on sink tips can provide for some exciting strikes' until the Hex hatch in mid July switches them to insects. A three to five inch white and silver baitfish also takes lower Au Sable Atlantics below Foote Dam on streamers through the winter.

Streamers · Swinging flies (spey / switch)

U.P. steelhead guides add white Zonkers and White Deaths #8 to the spring rig when smelt and shiners are in the lower rivers. Dead-drift it under an indicator or swing it through runs from April into June on Lake Superior tributaries and the St. Marys.

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

A cigar-shaped deer-hair dry that is skated or dead-drifted over holding Atlantic salmon. Generic to Atlantic salmon fishing and not named by any Michigan source for the St. Marys; a niche option for warm, low water in late summer.

Dry fly · Swinging flies (spey / switch)

A classic eastern Canadian Atlantic salmon fly, swung or waked on the surface. Its use on the St. Marys is unverified; the notes found no Michigan source naming classic Atlantic patterns, so treat it as a generic option for July through October rapids fishing.

Swinging flies (spey / switch)