Jordan River

Michigan's biggest hatch and the last of the Au Sable's Big Five: 4-8 duns emerging in the dark from silt banks on muggy nights from about 10 pm, with spinner falls one to three nights after the first duns. Peak on the Au Sable Holy Water is June 20-28 (Mio Trophy Water is the classic Hex water), Manistee June 25-July 5, Pere Marquette June 10-25, Muskegon tailwater June 8-20, and the U.P. two to three weeks later (Superior Flies peak July 5-21). Fish a Hex dun or spinner such as Robert's Yellow Drake, McCoy's All Day Dun or a Boondoggle Hex on a short 6-foot 2X leader, and a Hex wiggle nymph or Spring Wiggler year-round; trout in prime habitat may see up to 2,000 nymphs a day outside the hatch. Watch water temperature from June 10 and expect the hatch within days once the Au Sable holds 62-65 F.

A small yellow stonefly that trickles off on afternoons from May through June and sporadically into summer on the Upper Manistee, Au Sable, Jordan and Pine. Nymphs migrate to slow bank water before emergence, so drift a #12-14 yellow-brown stonefly nymph along the edges; the fishable surface event is females dipping to lay eggs in the afternoon, when a #14 yellow Stimulator or a yellow elk-hair caddis is a fine searching pattern. Motor City Anglers lists it late May through June at #12-14. On the Muskegon the chart's #14 golden stones are probably large Yellow Sallies.

The all-summer caddis of Michigan rivers, from May through September and heaviest in early-to-mid July, when the Manistee system's caddis abundance peaks an hour or two after sunset. The Trails to Trout chart splits it into Spotted Sedge (#12-16, from May 1) and Cinnamon Caddis (#14-18, from May 20); both are net-spinners that emerge slowly through the film, so a sparkle pupa or soft-hackle swung at dusk is often the best fly. Larvae are available year-round in the riffles and are a steelhead and trout staple. For the egg-laying flights at dark fish a #14-16 tan elk-hair caddis; on the Muskegon the cinnamon caddis (#16) starts mid-May and the tan/olive caddis fishes into August on the Upper Manistee.