St. Marys River (Sault rapids)

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.

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.

Michigan's large golden stoneflies emerge from mid-May through early August by crawling out on shore at night and around dawn, so the nymph is the fished stage. Nymphs spend two or more years in the riffles and migrate to slower bank water before emergence; a #6-8 golden stonefly nymph fished tight to the banks in June is a proven big-trout fly, and Hawkins' Mattress Thrasher covers the adult. Egg-laying adults on summer evenings can bring up big fish where they are locally abundant. Paragnetina media is common in Michigan collections but no source gives it separate dates.

Midges hatch every month of the year and are the main winter surface food on the Muskegon and Manistee tailwaters, where trout rise to #20-24 black midges on warm afternoons near springs from mid-December through April. On the northern rivers the charts list them June through October, but they are a fallback whenever nothing larger is hatching. Fish a black or olive midge larva or pupa (Zebra Midge) under an indicator by day, and a Griffith's Gnat or a tiny CDC emerger to sipping fish in the afternoon. Winter fishing peaks around 4 pm when water temperature rises slightly.