Michigan Fly Pattern… Egg Sucking Sculpin by Kevin Morlock

Kevin wanted an easy and quick to tie “sculpin stealing an egg” fly that looked natural in the water. Easy and quick meaning it did not involve a trimmed deer hair head. With a few changes he modified Walt Grau’s Easy Sculpin and came up with a fly that has ended up in the mouth of many a salmon this season.

Kevin likes the rag yarn because it is a blend of several natural colors, giving it that mottled sculpin look. While the fly looks clunky dry, it transforms into an alive looking imitation when wet.

Best For… salmon, steelhead and trout

***Materials listed in tying order

Hook – Daiichi 2151, size 1 or Mustad R74-9672
Tail – brown rag yarn (only available at FlyMasters?)
Body – Cactus Chenille, large pearl
Flash Collar – red Flashabou Mirage, 6-10 one inch strands tied facing back
Hackle – mustard yellow/brown
Head – brown rag yarn, about a two inch piece fanned and tied over and under (just like tying a Nuke Egg).
Egg – bright colored Cactus Chenille or Estaz

Michigan Salmon Fly… Salmon Candy by Aaliyah Morlock

The youngest member of the Indigo Guide Service crew, Aaliyah, has been getting more and more interested in fly tying lately. With salmon season here, Dad decided to put her energies and interest to good use. After a few practice flies Aaliyah was proud to point out that Mom couldn’t tell the difference between her fly and one of Dad’s.

Kevin and Aaliyah went through many name options and Aaliyah finally choose Salmon Candy. Kevin reports that the Salmon Candy has caught several kings already.

Best For… salmon, steelhead and trout

***Materials listed in tying order

Hook… TMC 105, size 4
Eyes… medium bead chain
Tail… marabou
Body… estaz

Michigan Steelhead Fly… Afternoon Delight version by Phil Cusey

This is one of Phil Cusey's go-to steelhead patterns on the Muskegon River, though it would also work well on other rivers.  A sharp looking and traditional pattern that is easy to tie.  Phil only sent over the olive version but I can imagine this pattern producing well with a dark orange or black body.

Best For… steelhead and trout

***Materials listed in tying order

Hook… size 6 nymph, 2x strong
Tail… pheasant tail barbs, natural
Body… light olive 4 strand floss
Rib… small copper wire
Thorax… peacock herl
Collar… grey hackle

Steelhead Caddisfly… Ted's Slingshot Caddisfly by Ted Grossman

Our good friend and customer Ted Grossman gave us a couple of his caddisflies with a raving review.  This is hands-down Ted's favorite fly pattern for the Ohio streams that he often fishes.  I really like the bold segmentation and brightness of the body.  For people looking for a simple pattern, it doesn't get any easier than this one.

Below is a picture of Ted's original version, same rubber band body but no hackle and a peacock dubbing head.  I like the head on Ted's but I didn't have any dubbing that I liked so I substituted natural peacock.  Ted's original is a proven pattern without the hackle, I like the looks of the fly with the hackle legs but haven't proven that it fishes as well as the original.

Best For… steelhead and trout

***Materials listed in tying order

Hook… Mustad C67S, size 4-8
Body… rubber band, stretched and wrapped forward
Legs… dark pheasant neck (trimmed-off over the back)
Head… peacock herl (twisted around thread to increase strength)

Ted's original caddisfly pattern, simple and effective.

Ted with one of many steelhead caught on the Slingshot Caddis

Steelhead Stonefly… Martinez's Psycho Stonefly by Steve Martinez

While Steve's new woven series of flies began with Steve going crazy with winter boredom from tying the same old standards.  These new flies have been catching steelhead.  The Martinez's Psycho Stonefly adds a bright twist to the standard stoneflies.  I really like the definition and segmented look between the light and dark yarn for the body.

Best For… steelhead and trout

***Materials listed in tying order

Hook… TMC 3761, size 6
Eyes… medium red plastic
Tail… black goose biot
Body… woven light tan and dark brown antron yarn
Wing… black goose biot
Head… orange uv dubbing

Visit the Michigan Flies page for all of our patterns.

Gary Krebs Popper from Third Coast Fly on Vimeo.

Fly Fishing Popper by Gary Krebs

Gary is one of our good friends from Indiana, an accomplished fly fishermen and tier as well as a great guy.  Gary created his popper for snook, it has an excellent weed guard that is perfect for bouncing off cypress.

Gary is a regular at tying shows end events throughout his area and his popper is gaining popularity for bass, pike and other species.

For ease of tying Gary has created and now markets a popper tying kit that you will see him using in the video.  It is available at FlyMasters.

Best For… bass, pike and snook

Visit our West Michigan Fly Index page for a quick look at our collection.

Steelhead Streamer… Steve's Foxxy Brown

Steve has been working on a streamer that mimics a small brown trout.  The Foxxy Brown looks great in the water, tracks well and most importantly, steelhead want to eat it.  This fly is also a very easy tie.

Best For… steelhead and trout          Could Also Be Used For…  salmon, pike and bass

***Materials listed in tying order

Hook… spey style hook, size 4 to 6
Tail… red fox tail, inner fur
Body… ice chenille, root beer
1st Ribbing… red tinsel
2nd Ribbing… gold tinsel SEE NOTE
Under Wing… red and gold tinsel used for ribbing
Over Wing… red fox tail, hairs with black and gray tips
Head… build up a nice head with thread

Notes – 1) Steve ties the second tinsel on the opposite side of the hook from the first, this makes it easier to have them fall next to each other and not overlap.

2) Steve sometimes omits the tail and hasn't decided which version he prefers.

Visit our West Michigan Fly Index page for a quick look at our collection.

Steelhead Tube Streamer… Fred's Ugly Bug (Tube Version)

This trout and steelhead streamer is one of Fred Davidson's favorite, Fred is a local Pere Marquette fly fishing guru.  Fred ties his on a long shank streamer hook like the TMC 300.  Indigo guide Steve Martinez converted Fred's fly to a tube version using an aluminum rivet.

The aluminum rivet has a bit of weight and a flat head that really makes the materials pulse.  Steve watched Aaron McDaniel use rivets at a Northern Kentucky Fly Fishers meeting and has used the idea since.

Best For… steelhead and trout          Could Also Be Used For…  salmon, pike and bass

***Materials listed in tying order

Tube… aluminum rivet (pin removed) glued over plastic tube (ends mushroomed) *SEE NOTE
Tail… marabou
Body… estaz
Legs… rubber legs
Under Wing… tinsel
Over Wing… small zonker strip
Inner Collar… crystal polar chenille
Outer Collar… cross cut rabbit

Note – Glue and insert a plastic tube that will fit inside the rivet, a Q-Tip shaft often works perfect.  Trim to length and mushroom near a flame.

References:  Third Coast Fly, Pere Marquette Fishing Report -Dec 21st

Visit our West Michigan Fly Index page for a quick look at our collection.

Steelhead Tube Fly… Basic Bucktail Tube

This is Kevin's bread-and-butter steelhead streamer for fall and winter.  It is extremely basic and easy to tie but absolutely effective.  The lower section of many of the west Michigan streams like the Pere Marquette, Muskegon and Manistee are basically snags with water running through them.  Kevin doesn't even flinch when he breaks-off and quickly ties on another.

Other considerations are that this fly will cast with the ease of a small fly but has a big profile.  It also allows Kevin to use his favorite steelhead hook, the Gamakatsu octopus 02408 in size 4.  Being able to vary the weight with added cones and making minor color changes with bead choices allows a lot of versatility.

Kevin originally tied this Clouser type fly on traditional streamer hooks but switched to a tube style because the long flash wraps and tangles on the hook shank and bend.

Best For… steelhead and pike          Could Also Be Used For…  trout, salmon and bass

***Materials listed in tying order

Tube… whatever plastic tube you like
Body… Estaz (yarn or a dubbed body will work also)
Wing… bucktail
Over Wing… Flashabou Mirage (other tinsels will work)

Note – Kevin makes a point to wrap tight and heavy and then glue at both ends of the tube.  This keeps materials from sliding off and also reduces tube splitting.

References:

1) Kevin posted a series on our Third Coast Fly site on how he streamer fishes for fall and winter steelhead.
- Streamer fishing for Michigan steelhead- gearing up
- Streamer fishing for Michigan steelhead- fly patterns
- Streamer fishing for Michigan steelhead- reading water

2) You might also like the video Michigan's Fall Steel.

3) Matt's version.