Current Works Guide Service
  • (231) 883-8156
  • ted@current-works.com
  • Book a trip
  • Subscribe to Newsletter
  • Home
  • Guide Trips & More
    • Guide Trips & Pricing
    • Casting Lessons
    • Gift Certificates
    • Book a Trip
  • Fishing Report
  • Fish & Seasons
    • Steelhead
    • Trout
    • Smallmouth Bass
    • Salmon
    • Bluegill / Panfish / Bass
    • Golden Bones / Carp
  • Rivers & Hatches
    • Upper Manistee River
    • Lower Manistee River
    • Betsie River
    • Boardman River
    • Hatch Chart
  • Fly Tying
  • Articles
  • Gallery
  • About
    • About Your Guide
    • Testimonials
    • Newsletter
    • Area Information

Posts tagged "nuke eggs"

Pack-boots and Sandals

Posted by Ted Kraimer - March 27, 2012

Next to my front door are pack-boots and sandals. While it’s been a few weeks since boots were needed, last week’s sandal wearing weather made the latest cool down feel like pack boots might be a good call in the mornings. Confused on the weather? So seem the steelhead.

What started off as a great steelhead season a few weeks ago with a good run-off of snow, the Spring run has become stagnate the past week with few fish entering the Manistee and Betsie Rivers. Yes, some fresh fish have moved through but with water temperatures being in the high 40’s and even low 50’s, they seem to come and go quickly. The increased water flows/levels have mostly tapered off and clarity has left us with a nice, sun-shielding stain.

I think we need a good rain to increase flows and bring in the next wave of fish – then again, this Spring’s weather has been unprecedented so no one really knows what is going to happen. I do know that few walleye and suckers have come into the Manistee and since they typically share the water with a large percentage of the Spring steelhead, there should be more chrome to enter the river in the weeks ahead. Last year’s run that extended strong in to mid-May provides hope and proof that a run can pause before starting up strong again.

Most of the fish are in the “Occupy Gravel” movement doing their spawning with some fish in the dark water nearby. Low light is best, but is nothing new. Flies have varied – fry patterns, caddis, black stones, and hare’s ears below egg patterns that are smaller and more realistic looking shades like nuke eggs in Oregon Cheese/Steelhead Orange are good bets. With decent water temps, the drop-back fish are moving to Lake Michigan swiftly – target these fish with buggers, leeches, small baitfish patterns and even some bigger eggs in tail-outs and runs. It should be a decent spring for those dedicated to swinging flies on the two-hander/spey rods with the high water temps.

Don’t forget that new fishing licenses are required 4/1/2012

Good Luck!

Ted

– Book a Trip for the Upcoming Fishing Seasons –

Now-April: Steelhead on the Manistee and Betsie Rivers
April-May: Trout – Streamers & Dry Flies. Hendricksons & Early Bug Hatches
June: Trout -Big Dry Flies – Drakes, Isonychias and The Hex.
Booking for all 2012 Seasons – Some Fall Dates Remain Open

Betsie, drop-back steelhead, fry patterns, manistee, nuke eggs, spring run

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

Testimonials

About Ted Kraimer Fishing Guide

About Your Guide, Ted Kraimer

Lessons - Learn to Fly Cast or Improve

Casting Lessons

Gift Certificate

Gift Certificates

Fish & Seasons

Carp Fishing West Grand Traverse Bay

Golden Bones / Carp

Bluegill, Panfish and Bass Fly Fishing on Local Lakes Near Traverse City

Bluegill / Panfish / Bass

King Salmon Fly Fishing - Betsie River Near Traverse City

Salmon

Fall Steelhead Manistee River

Steelhead

Trout Fishing Manistee River near Traverse City Michigan

Trout

Fly fishing for smallmouth bass Manistee River and Northern Michigan Lakes

Smallmouth Bass

Ted Kraimer • Current Works, LLC • PO Box 333 • Traverse City, Michigan 49685 • (231) 883-8156

© 2024 Current Works, LLC — All rights reserved
  • Home
  • Guide Trips & Pricing
  • Fishing Report
  • Fish & Seasons
  • Rivers & Hatches
  • Fly Tying
  • Articles
  • Gallery
  • About
  • Sitemap