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Posts tagged "egg patterns for steelhead"

Mid-March Steelhead Fishing Report

Posted by Ted Kraimer - March 13, 2025

The longer days, return of sunshine and the installation of frost law speed limit signs on the shoulders of highways are indications that it’s Spring Steelhead season.

A late arriving but “old school” winter with lots of snow and cold temps kept winter enthusiasts happy in N.W. Michigan, but the slow thaw these past weeks provided a lot of groundwater and the return of brown to the landscape. Luckily the ground was not frozen and the regional snowpack mostly dripped into the water table without creating too much run-off. As such, the spring fed trout rivers and streams are recharged for the year and our steelhead fishing wasn’t condensed to a couple of weeks before most anglers got out.

The Manistee and Betsie rivers are both running full with temperatures in the mid to upper 30s. There is some color and stain which steelhead prefer as they migrate upstream under it’s cover. However, the brighter days, frankly, make for tough conditions as the fish either go deep or off to the side into wood. Shaded holes and runs, or early and late times of the day can make the difference in success. Majority of the fish have been in the river either over the winter or the past 6 weeks, but a few fresh, bright ones have been moving through the systems and acting a little spunkier when hooked.

Fish have been taking a mix of both eggs and nymphs without much of a common denominator or an outlier catching more fish. More subtle color egg schemes have outperformed the bold bright versions, but as the water is likely to darken with some additional run-off, look for that to change. A few early stoneflies have come off and it’s usually a good time to fish some of those. The usual suspects are always good to have in your fly box during spring steelhead season as we put winter behind us.

Good luck.

Ted

Fall Steelhead – Spring season is all booked, but a few dates remain available for the Fall Steelhead.
Trout Fishing – May and June offer some of the best technical dry fly fishing as we chase bugs and browns.
2025 Season – Now booking the entire season for trout, bass, steelhead and salmon – get your dates planned.

 

betsie river, egg patterns for steelhead, flies for spring steelhead, manistee steelhead fishing, michigan steelhead fishing, spring steelhead run, steelhead, tippy dam, trout fishing Mighigan

Early November Fishing Report

Posted by Ted Kraimer - November 8, 2022

Steelhead fishing has been mixed. The last week of October left us with low and clear water and with all the salmon gone, the steelhead weren’t as easy to find. Over the weekend significant rains brought up the local rivers and have them running higher and with some color to them. This push of water moved some fish around through rivers and even sent some fresh fish from the lake into the rivers systems like the Manistee and Betsie.

Water temperatures are almost unprecedented for this time of year and are maintaining upper 40s and close to 50. With nice weather in the forecast that should remain for a few days but the “S” word that gets spoken a little more often this time of year is in the long term forecast so look for the water and air temps to begin to fall where they should be for mid-November.

With those water temps being up, the fish are still scattered, mostly happy and eager to eat a well presented fly. Once hooked, they are continuing to test our abilities to get them close to the net but getting beat up has never been so fun. Egg patterns in bold, pale or mixed colors have been the primary producers with nymphs like hex, buggers and caddis starting to get tied in tandem with an egg or bead. Those willing to fish a swung fly are getting a deeper bend in the two-handed rod with the larger size of fish this fall; streamers with copper flash and either tan/ginger or olive bodies have been the first fly tied on the line.

Good luck.

Ted

Fall Steelhead – Finish the season with what started the season – Steelhead! A few dates in late Nov. are open.
2023 Fishing –  Get your dates secured to ensure your time on the water. Booking all seasons thru September.
Gift Certificates – Quick and easy gifts of a half-day, full-day or casting lesson for friends or family.

betsie river, egg patterns for steelhead, fishing guide manistee river, manistee fly fishing, spey fishing manistee river, steelhead fishing, steelhead manistee river

Fishing Egg Patterns

Posted by Jeanne Kraimer - March 16, 2012
Egg Box

Box of Eggs in Various Color Combinations

Matching the Hatch is often associated with trout fishing, but not necessarily with Steelhead fishing. Imitating the specific natural insects fish key in on is important to the success of the trout angler however this same approach should be used by steelhead anglers looking to imitate their prey’s primary food source – eggs.

Egg flies have been used for decades not only because they are easy to tie or inexpensive to buy, but more importantly because they are effective. With increased angling pressure, water conditions, as well as factors only known by the steelhead themselves, they often become selective on size and color. This article’s goal is to provide you with a better understanding of what egg to use and when. Of course it’s not guaranteed, but put others’ experience in your corner to optimize your steelhead fishing and hopefully a well-earned steelhead into your net.Egg Fly Patterns for Great Lakes Steelhead

Matching the Hatch

Egg Patterns for Trout and Steelhead

Regardless of when you fish steelhead and what egg you are trying to imitate, know that the eggs themselves change. After being in the water – free drifting or trapped in a selected gravel bed – eggs become less colorful, a bit translucent and eventually opaque. Depending on the timing of your fishing trip in relation to the “egg drop”, color plays a large factor and there are two ways to determine what is ideal:

1. Experience. Fishing and having certain successes or failures can help you Egg - Real Salmon Eggsdefine color combos for particular times. Keeping notes in a journal can help keep track of what can easily be forgotten between seasons and a few beers.

2. When fishing rivers that have a respectable trout population, use their selectiveness as an indication of the right color and size. Catching trout? Proceed. Not catching tout? Change your egg pattern.

When fishing for steelhead in the fall directly behind spawning salmon – color and size becomes more important and is where “matching the hatch” is key. In Egg - Wet Nuke Eggthis case, the eggs are often fresh, having a more realistic color to them.

Want to know what a real salmon egg looks like? Look on the ground at access sites or near fish cleaning stations to match your egg patterns – its not that much different than catching a mayfly out of the air and matching it to a fly in your box when trout fishing. The same holds true in the spring when imitating natural steelhead eggs.

Fall Steelhead

Egg - Fall Steelhead

 There are many theories as to “Why do steelhead enter our rivers in the fall?”, but there is no clear, general accepted theory. Some think curious steelhead follow the salmon as they run up the river to spawn, others hypothesize that they are genetically programmed to enter rivers at that time of year. While these might be partially or absolutely correct, I prescribe to the theory that fall weather and wind conditions bring steelhead close to river mouths, and the scent of pheromones and millions of salmon eggs drifting down the river triggers them to follow a gravy train of protein. This is why the water downstream of  the salmon tend to be best for anglers looking for steelhead and having a box filled with egg flies will keep you prepared.

 

Egg - Rag Pattern

Rag Egg – Clown Color

With this in mind, I like fishing for fall steelhead, the majority of the time with two egg flies; one larger, brighter pattern as an attractor and a second, smaller, more realistic pattern imitating what is coming down the river. Often the top positioned fly is a multicolored pattern like a Clown or two-colored Rag Egg if not a Nuke Egg. I saw my first clown egg while fishing steelhead in Alaska in the mid-1990s and thought it was a joke – it was about the size of a quarter and included more colors than a small package of Crayola crayons. But with time, understanding, and some luck, I have learned that this multi-color configuration and approach can be significant to my success fishing for steelhead right here in Michigan. It’s a good idea to run this egg pattern in a large size when the water is full of leaves
when a smaller pattern could easily be lost in all of the
drifting debris.

Egg - Nuke Egg

Nuke Egg

Most anyone fishing steelhead in Michigan recognizes the Nuke Egg as an effective pattern that is an improvement over the original GloBug. The Nuke can be tied as an attractor or natural imitator depending on size and color. One of its key attributes is the veil or shroud of yarn that covers the nucleus of the pattern giving it a natural, transparent look when wet. The advantage of the Nuke Egg is its exacting nature to imitate the natural eggs drifting down the river. Some of these color combinations include: Egg over Sockeye, Pink Lady over Shrimp Pink, Apricot Supreme over Steelhead Orange, Salmon Egg over Chartreuse or Nuke Egg everyone’s favorite – spring or fall: Oregon Cheese over Steelhead Orange. Worthy attractor colors are Chartreuse over Flame, or Flame over Cerise.

Egg - Sucker Spawn

Sucker Spawn

Steelhead in the Great Lakes perform their annual spawning each year during the spring. The largest numbers of fish are in the river sometime in March and April depending on water levels and temperatures. During this time period, the river is also used by walleyes, resident rainbow trout, suckers and carp (typically in that order with steelhead spawning the same time as rainbow trout) as their spawning area. As a result, millions of eggs drift down the river becoming a significant food source for all fish in the river, notably steelhead. The successful angler is often fishing with an egg pattern best imitating the natural egg – its color and shape in addition to how it relates to water conditions.

Spring Steelhead

Egg Patterns For SteelheadSpring water conditions are often found to have a stain or be quite high and dirty. When this is the case, I have found patterns larger than naturals to be the most effective. Egg patterns like Rags, Nukes and Glo Bugs tied in various colors and almost as big as a dime, I think, do a better job of grabbing a fish’s attention rather than imitate the food source. But those times of the spring when the absence of rains and thaws leave the water with good clarity, size and color becomes significant. Patterns like sucker spawn in pale yellow imitate that of both suckers and walleye, where the natural characteristics of Nuke Eggs and Glo Bugs in various colors and hues can be identical to those of natural steelhead eggs drifting down the river.

A well stocked fly box for trout fishing is important to success and it’s no different for steelhead. Learn your favorite river, the spawning times of the various species, and what works in particular conditions and key in on what steelhead are eating. Having egg patterns in various sizes, colors and shapes and learning when to use them and why can be the difference between catching steelhead on a consistent basis and catching a steelhead.

Learn how to tie 4 different egg patterns – go to the Fly Tying page and select the pattern you want to tie.

 

Egg - Steelhead

egg fly patterns, egg patterns for steelhead, glo bug pattern, glo-bugs, imitating natural eggs, match the hatch with eggs, nuke eggs, salmon, steelhead, trout
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