May and June offer Mid-west anglers a chance to fish stoneflies on the surface. This well floating dry fly can be skittered on the surface to imitate the naturals with all the movement of the rubber legs and from some twitching in the presentation for some rather aggressive rises.
Stoneflies aren’t just for western river anglers but also for those of us in the mid-west. The Twenty Inch Chubby stonefly nymph does a good job of impersonating the natural’s characteristic silhouette and can be tied and used for both steelhead and trout.
The Back Half Baitfish is a relatively easy pattern to tie with a great profile that can be used to represent numerous baitfish species in both rivers and lakes to target various fish, just by changing colors. Instead of increasing your streamer pattern, try fishing something natural in size.
Hex nymphs are important to both steelhead and trout anglers, alike. Using materials with motion and natural colors, lean how to tie this realistic pattern with step-by-step instructions and use them when fishing for steelhead and also in the summer during the Hex Hatch.
Hendricksons are the season’s first significant mayflies to both anglers and trout. The Hairwing Dun has a great profile, allows anglers to skitter the fly in front of selective fish to elicit a strike and can easily altered into an emerger pattern or represent other hatches of mayflies.
Named for its color scheme, the Michigan Skunk has been around since the 1940s and catching fish ever since. This pattern can be the secret when our favorites let us down. Learn how to tie a slight variation that improves its durability while simplifying the tying process.
This large profile stonefly nymph pattern works well on spring steelhead when the water is often high and stained. Its color, shape and addition of sparkle in the thorax can help make a slow day, a productive one. It might be a good idea to have a few in your trout box, too.
This mid-sized streamer represents a number of bait and juvenile sport-fish that larger fish eat. With its lead eyes, it has a jig-like action and can be fished on both a sink-tip or floating line for more than just trout and bass making it a versatile pattern for various waters.
When July and August come and matching-the-hatch goes, try fishing a simple Deer Fly Pattern. “A Fly” brings brook and brown trout to the surface and makes for a great point fly when you tie a Trico to it as a dropper. Made with foam and CDC feathers, this small fly floats really well.
This streamer imitates brook trout that often are vulnerable to the larger carnivorous Brown Trout. Not overly accessorized like a lot of today’s streamers, you might find the success of this pattern’s profile and color scheme motivate some browns that are experiencing “Streamer Fatigue.”
The Ice Bugger is a simplified version of the Steelhead Wooly bugger that’s easier to tie and offers more motion with its sleek profile. Effective on Steelhead, Salmon, and Trout it can be fished a number of ways – load up your fly box quickly.
It seems that each spring and fall when the steelhead are around, I find I didn’t tie enough flies in the off season to keep my boxes well stocked. Thankfully there are a few quick & easy patterns to tie, but more importantly, they’re effective. The green caddis is one of them.
This version of Jimmy Nix’s Shinabou Shiner is tied with a sheep hair head providing erratic action when stripped with a neutral suspension pause after the strip. Used on a variety of species including bass, trout, salmon, steelhead, pike, and musky.
This Egg Sucking Leech Pattern is a less intrusive than most patterns and helps target the selective steelhead which tend to be more common than aggressive steelhead. Super easy and quick to tie, be sure to have this fly in your fly box when steelhead fishing.
A variation of the Twenty Incher, this stonefly nymph has been altered to handle the large steelhead and salmon found in Michigan Rivers. It borrows elements of the Prince Nymph and Half-back – two proven fish catching patterns contributing to this pattern’s ability to catch fish.
This impressionistic fly pattern suggests a number of food sources to fish but nothing specifically. While Jack Gartside originally designed this nymph/streamer/wet fly for trout fishing, I have found it works great for salmon early in the season when staging in holes.
Fishing the Green Butt Soft Hackle pattern will prove effective just about anytime the Grannom Caddis or “Mothers-Day” caddis is emerging. It also works great as an attractor when swinging flies. Quick and easy to tie only and fun to fish – put some in your fly box.
A variation of the Borchers Drake, this emerger pattern is both effective and versatile for a number of significant mayflies found locally including the: Hendrickson, Mahogany Dun, Great Speckled Olive, March Brown, Brown Drake and Isonychia by changing the size.
More than in Autumn, this trout streamer catches fish year-round. Easy to tie with just the right amount of motion and “bling”, it works in stained water and also when conditions are clear. It imitates nothing in particular but suggests sculpins, juvenile trout and creek chubs.
Learn to tie an articulated or “loop” Rabbit Strip Leech fly pattern. This easy to tie fly offers a good profile, action/moment and a proven track record. Change the colors and the size of the eyes for a complete selection of flies to swing or strip for more than steelhead.
This Isonychia (Iso) pattern is a must have and belongs in your box as this prolific fly emerges on Michigan rivers from June through September. With its great profile, this variation of a parachute “Tilt-Shoot” sits low in the water and is easy to see from above.
This quick and easy to tie stonefly nymph pattern helps you fill your fly box quickly and gives you a pattern for late winter and spring steelhead fishing. Add an optional epoxy wingcase for those days when you need just a little sparkle to get the fish to bite.
The Lamprey Leech imitates the native Chestnut Lamprey – an important food source to trout on local Michigan Rivers. This streamer is easy to tie, has lots of motion and has become a go to pattern when fishing gets tough at all times of the year.
This recipe is influenced by the original Clouser Minnow pattern and Dan Blanton’s rendition, the Flashtail Deep Minnow. Notable differences include a reflective tail, more bulk & transparency, and use of natural materials for more movement and durability.
Instructions on how to tie and effectively fish a type of fly pattern that’s important for anglers to use when fishing steelhead and trout. In rivers where natural reproduction takes place, small fish and offspring become a targeted food source for adult fish.
One of the regions most versatile and important mayfly imitations the Borcher’s Drake represents a number of different mayflies, this easy to tie parachute version should be in every Michigan angler’s box in an assortment of sizes to cover lots of hatches in May and June.
The “Rag” style egg pattern has caught on in recent years and for two good reasons: It works and It is very easy to tie. The Clown pattern or color combo works very well as an attractor or “wildcard”, but don’t limit this style of egg pattern to this color combo only.
This spey/streamer (“speymer”) on a tube rather than on a traditional hook. This pattern is effective for those of you looking to swing flies for steelhead. Interested in tying on tubes? It’s simple and not much different than tying on hook shanks and offers advantages.
With it’s transparent veil over it’s nucleolus, the Nuke Fly is a realistic egg pattern mixing colors while representing eggs that have started to become opaque. Color combinations are endless but some standards that belong in every steelhead and salmon angler’s box.
One of my top flies for carp fishing. With an inverted hook, this fly swims along the bottom where carp key in on food without getting snagged on the bottom or dulling the hook point. Mayflies make up a large portion of a Carp’s diet in Grand Traverse Bay earning its place in your box.
This effective streamer pattern is also a versatile pattern for a number of other species including trout, bass, steelhead, salmon, pike and more. Play around with colors and have an easy to cast fly that offers flash and motion in unlimited color combintations.
The Sucker Spawn is an effective pattern for anglers fishing steelhead and trout. Sucker’s spawn at the same time as steelhead and their eggs become an important food source to steelhead and trout. Try in other colors to imitate salmon and steelhead eggs.
A hex pattern that incorporates a glow-in-the-dark strike indicator to help you track the fly and keep it floating at the same time. Fishing at night can be tricky with not knowing exactly where your fly or if it’s floating – this pattern can help address those shortfalls of fishing at night.
The advent of McFly Foam to the market made tying the standard Glo Bug egg pattern easy to tie. Its elasticity and sponge like characteristics makes compressing the material easy and when it is trimmed to shape it recoils forming an almost perfectly round ball.
