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

A multi-color yarn rag egg that Hawkins calls 'a deadly fly' under a float on the Manistee and that 'will fool most salmon and steelhead.' Chuck Hawkins sizes it dime-sized in pinks and oranges before runoff, quarter-sized in chartreuse, orange and bright yellow during runoff, and muted afterward; Kraimer fishes a quarter-sized Clown as the attractor above a smaller realistic egg. Fish it under an 8 to 20 g float or chuck-and-duck from fall through April.

Indicator nymphing · Chuck and duck

A leech profile with an egg hot spot, recognized as one of the most effective flies on Great Lakes tributary steelhead streams and, per Current Works, less intrusive than most patterns for selective fish. Betts fishes it for Pere Marquette fall salmon, and Michigan coho anglers swing it through runs and tailouts. Dead-drift or swing black, purple or olive bodies with chartreuse, orange, red or pink heads from September through April; #8 versions take pink salmon.

Swinging flies (spey / switch) · Indicator nymphing · Chuck and duck · Streamers

Black marabou and schlappen over peacock and orange Ice Dub with pink and copper Flashabou, on a 25 mm Senyo shank with a trailer or a Daiichi 2461. Originating on the Muskegon, it is 'great through fall' when steelhead have switched from lake alewife to river shiners and respond to flash. Swing it from October through December.

Swinging flies (spey / switch)

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

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

Current Works' Steelhead Bugger #6 sits in its Michigan top five, and U.P. guides run a beadhead Woolly Bugger #8 in black or green in the nymph rig. Dead-drift it as the point fly with an egg trailing, or swing it through tailouts; it covers leeches, sculpins and crayfish at once.

Indicator nymphing · Chuck and duck · Swinging flies (spey / switch)

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

Current Works reaches for black leeches (String Leech, Silvey's Tail Light, Miles Davis, Larimer's Reverse Marabou) in high, dirty water, when a dark silhouette shows better than any natural color. Betsie salmon anglers use dark leeches with flash dead-drifted or swung. Fish it during spring runoff and after fall rains.

Swinging flies (spey / switch) · Chuck and duck · Streamers

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)

Krystal Flash and Flashabou-winged flies (Pope's, California Neon, Pink Pop Cycle) built for coho, which respond to flash more than kings. Chartreuse is best in low light or slightly murky water. Strip or swing them for fresh chrome coho in the lower Platte, Manistee, Betsie and St. Joseph from mid September into November; the recommendation is general coho lore, not Michigan-sourced.

Streamers · Swinging flies (spey / switch)

A Sucker Spawn tied with dyed pearl Diamond Braid instead of yarn, so it flashes in off-color water. Supinski lists 'Krystal Meth weave eggs' among PM, Muskegon, Au Sable and Platte winter staples, and Great Lakes guides rate it best in dirty water. Retail sizes #8 to #14; fish it larger and brighter as flows rise.

Indicator nymphing · Chuck and duck

A single strand of Estaz chenille wound into a ball, which the Pere Marquette River Lodge says 'should be in every steelheader's fly box if you're fishing the PM,' tied in chartreuse, pink and peach. Best in dirty water; fish it #10 to #12 as the bright attractor in a two-egg rig from September through April.

Indicator nymphing · Chuck and duck

Feenstra's rabbit-strip and flash sculpin, sold by shops as the Aqua Nuisance: a size 1 or 1/0 fly that 'shines during the fall and spring months when fish are aggressive,' in low light and stained water, for steelhead, salmon and large trout. Feenstra fishes it fall through spring and rates it best in water over 38 F. Swing it on a heavy tip through the deep runs of the Muskegon and Big Manistee.

Swinging flies (spey / switch) · Streamers

Shank or tube-tied swing flies of two to four inches, fished Intruder-style #2 to #4 by U.P. steelhead guides and #4 to 1/0 for Great Lakes salmon in chartreuse, red, orange, black and blue. Pink and orange or black and blue for steelhead aggression in fall and high water; swing on a Skagit setup with 12 to 14 ft rods.

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)

One of Chuck Hawkins' top ten Michigan flies, a parr imitation that is 'great for early spring in the Midwest' on any river with a migration of salmon parr, for steelhead, brown trout and salmon. Anna River browns selected stocked coho smolts over sculpins in May, so fish it March through June on the Muskegon, Manistee, PM and Betsie.

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

Current Works fishes Rabbit Strip Leeches on sink tips with 9 to 10 weight rods for fresh salmon in the lower Betsie and Manistee, and MidCurrent lists bunny leeches with hot-spot heads #2 to #6 for aggressive steelhead. Strip or swing it through the first holding water above the lake from late August through October.

Streamers · Swinging flies (spey / switch)

A big, bright marabou attractor that a Michigan guide lists with Egg Sucking Leeches and Intruders as 'bright flies that bring out angry strikes from the salmon.' Swing or dead-drift it at the head of the pool where staged Chinook and coho hold in September and October.

Swinging flies (spey / switch) · Chuck and duck · Streamers

A bead-chain-eyed West Coast salmon fly with a bright chenille body and long tail that sinks fast and swims hook-up. It is a generic aggression fly for Michigan Chinook and coho, swung or bounced through runs in September and October; Michigan sources do not name it.

Swinging flies (spey / switch) · Chuck and duck

A multi-egg yarn or chenille cluster suggesting several 7 to 8 mm Chinook eggs washed out of a redd together. Use it #4 to #8 in high or stained October water below spawning kings and coho, keeping the hook gap under a half inch to remain a legal artificial fly on Michigan streams.

Chuck and duck · Indicator nymphing

A soft pheasant-rump nymph that Current Works names for nymphing Betsie and Manistee salmon on floating lines or chuck-and-duck. Its pulsing hackle reads as anything alive; dead-drift it #4 to #8 into staged kings and coho in September and October.

Indicator nymphing · Chuck and duck