Michigan Flies

Fish

Chinook salmon

Oncorhynchus tshawytscha

Chinook, or king salmon, are the largest fish in Michigan rivers, averaging 12 to 13 pounds on the Muskegon and arriving in catchable numbers by mid-August as rivers and the nearshore lake cool into the 60s. The run peaks from mid-September through the first week of October, when the Little Manistee weir takes its eggs, and the Manistee, Pere Marquette and St. Joseph are the DNR's named best stream fisheries. Kings stop feeding once they enter the river and strike out of aggression, so fresh chrome fish near the mouth take swung or stripped streamers on 9- and 10-weights while staged fish in October take dead-drifted eggs and Egg-Sucking Leeches. Native to the Pacific from California to Alaska, Chinook were introduced to the Great Lakes by Michigan in 1967; today most Chinook caught in Lakes Michigan and Huron are wild, produced mostly in Michigan tributaries and trending upward. They roam the whole lake, and many Lake Huron fish feed in Lake Michigan, but in fall each returns to the stream where it was stocked or hatched. Their drifting eggs are the single most important food event of the year for steelhead and resident trout.

aggression striker
Find flies for chinook salmon

Ours, from the Two Hearted. Each took a fly we tied.

© Quinn · CC BY · iNaturalist · Michigan · 2025

© Quinn · CC BY · iNaturalist · Laketon Township, MI 49445 · 2022

What they eat in the river

Lake diet is alewife (99 percent by one DNR account) with some smelt. Bloater are now the most abundant forage fish in Lake Michigan, but USGS surveys find no evidence that salmon or trout eat them. On the spawning run the DNR states salmon do not feed but will often strike out of aggression, and fisheries biologists attribute strikes to redd defense. Anglers nonetheless take Chinook on eggs and beads presented behind spawners, and on large dark or bright flies that trigger territorial strikes. Do not match diet; match triggers.

  1. does not feed in the river; strikes from aggression and redd defense
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    Evidence
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  2. eggs and beads taken behind spawning fish, Egg-Sucking Leeches, dark Woolly Buggers, Intruders in chartreuse, red, orange, black and blue
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    Evidence
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Runs and spawn

fall run
Catchable numbers by mid-August (earliest on the Betsie), peak mid-September to early October, spawned-out fish into early November. Lake Michigan Chinook were 72 percent wild in 2024; rivers with significant natural reproduction are the Muskegon, White, Pere Marquette, Little Manistee, Manistee and Betsie. Lake Huron weirs (Swan River) take eggs in the first two weeks of October.
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Spawning
August, September, October · 43–59 °F · eggs 6.36–8.36 mm
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Egg colors: Steelhead Orange, Sockeye, Salmon Egg, Flame

DNR Pacific salmon egg takes run mid-September to late October; the Little Manistee Chinook take typically falls in the first week of October (September 29 to October 8 in 2025), which marks the ripe-fish peak. Entry is triggered by rivers and nearshore lake cooling into the 60s F plus rain. The 43 to 59 F spawning range is from a non-primary aggregator; egg diameter is from a landlocked population (mean 7.22 mm). Fresh eggs are orange to red-orange.

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On the listed salmon rivers (Betsie, Bear Creek, Manistee below Tippy, Big Sable, Pere Marquette, Little Manistee, White, Muskegon below Croton, Pentwater branches) terminal gear from August 1 to November 15 is limited to single hooks or jigs of half-inch gap or less; snagging is illegal statewide. A 2027 stocking cut is planned but will not change river presence through at least 2028.

Staple flies

Green Caddis Larva (reference photo)Reference photo
Green Caddis Larva
A
Larva / pupa#6–16GreenChartreuseOlive+3

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

Reserve · $2.75
Black Stonefly Nymph (reference photo)Reference photo
Black Stonefly Nymph
A
Nymph#6–18BlackTed's Early Black StoneMercer's Biot Epoxy Stone (dark)+1

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

Reserve · $2.75
Nuke Egg (reference photo)Reference photo
Nuke Egg
A
Egg#6–12Oregon Cheese over Steelhead OrangeApricot Supreme over Steelhead OrangeEgg over Sockeye+4

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

Reserve · $2.25
Glo Bug (reference photo)Reference photo
Glo Bug
A
Egg#6–16Oregon CheeseApricotPeach+6

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

Reserve · $2.25
Clown Egg (Rag Egg) (reference photo)Reference photo
Clown Egg (Rag Egg)
A
Egg#6–14Pink/orange (pre-runoff, dime-sized)Chartreuse/orange/bright yellow (runoff, quarter-sized)Muted natural (post-runoff)

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

Reserve · $2.25
Egg-Sucking Leech (reference photo)Reference photo
Egg-Sucking Leech
A
Streamer#2–8Black with chartreuse headBlack with orange headPurple with pink head+2

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

Reserve · $6.50
Steelhead Bugger (reference photo)Reference photo
Steelhead Bugger
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Streamer#4–8BlackOliveBrown+1

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)

Reserve · $6.50
Feenstra's Halloween Leech (reference photo)Reference photo
Feenstra's Halloween Leech
A
Streamer#2–4Black and orange with peacock and pink/copper flash

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)

Reserve · $6.50
All chinook salmon flies