Thread: Best salmon flies?

Going for a trip to the Manistee river in Michigan pretty soon. Got a good selection of materials any good ideas for flies? I mostly tie everything in size 6 or 8 with caddis in 10(sometimes Stones when I feel frisky)

Box should look something like this

Eggs - Orange, Pink, White, White/Pink Spot, and Clown
Estaz eggs - same as above
Wooly Buggers - Black, Purple, and every color combo I can think of.
Egg Sucking Leeches - Black, Purple, with pink and orange colored heads.
Estaz Bugs - Black, orange, pink, and olive
Caddis - Mainly olive but I might branch out and do some other colors.
Stonefly - Black and god how I hate tying these little bastards.

Anything else that I should tie?


I was thinking of tying a couple of them like this. Anyone have any luck with em?


Estaz Bug

sparkle shrimp, and big stuff, like really big

You mean like 4 and 2 size ?

Most stuff I see guys throwing is more towards 6 and 8.

And damn AK I threw a pink one of those sparkle shrimp for Steelies and I couldn't remember it's name. I looked forever to try and find it since it produced some hookups but no fish. Do you tie yours like this?

BIG (like 2s with barbell heads)

chartreuse


magenta


combos with black and white bunny, a little flash doesn't hurt either

Zonkers are good too

Good Luck and don't go light on the leader

Originally Posted by Sublime

You mean like 4 and 2 size ?

Most stuff I see guys throwing is more towards 6 and 8.

And damn AK I threw a pink one of those sparkle shrimp for Steelies and I couldn't remember it's name. I looked forever to try and find it since it produced some hookups but no fish. Do you tie yours like this?

yeah but with pearl flashabou instead of krystal flash

and really big means like 8-10 inches long, if you aren't using half a chicken you are doing it wrong. I like 5/0 if I'm not doing a stinger. Little is good for nymphing or super clear water, but these fish eat 8 inch bait fish from the time they are 25 inches longs...

Originally Posted by ak_powder_monkey

and really big means like 8-10 inches long, if you aren't using half a chicken you are doing it wrong. these fish eat 8 inch bait fish from the time they are 25 inches longs...

Articulated works well too, so when they bite the tail end they are chomping the hook

edit- I was having luck with clousers last night (green and white, red barbell eyes)

Thanks for the info.

Whats that pattern called ? The pink/green one looks like a sweet pattern. Been tying some stuff mostly in 6 and 4 since my hook selection is limited(why are hooks so damn expensive?). Going to run to Orvis sometime next week and pick up some bigger hooks to tie some monster patterns. Any suggestions for a killer pattern?