The Detroit River

The Detroit River continues our series of fly fishing near metropolitan areas. Like many metro fly fishing opportunities the Detroit River is an under utilized resource, waiting for that early afternoon escape from the office.

The Detroit River runs a short thirty-two miles from Lake St. Claire until melding into Lake Erie. While the two lakes are renowned for their warm water fisheries, the Detroit as we said is under utilized from the fly fisher point of view.

For a metro fishery to be useful it needs easy access and the Detroit has it. Lake Erie Metro Park has plenty of access, boat ramp, and marina. A simple outboard boat will suffice and at times a kayak will work just fine if not better. A veritable, indeterminable array of islands, flats, weed beds, channels, and canals lead to inexhaustible fishing opportunities. At first glance a parking lot full of gear slingers might be discouraging the exploring fly fisher can certainly find their kind of water not being worked.

As varied the water so are the species targeted. The list includes, perch, carp, mass species of bass that you shake a popper at, including smallies and largemouth, rock bass and white bass. Throw in some northern pike and walleye just to make it interesting.

Beginning in March, Northern Pike move into spawning beds, pre-spawners can be found lying in the bottom at depths of about four feet. Perfect targets for your favorite clousers, marabou clousers, buggers, or other streamers.

Late April brings in the smallies, check regs for catch and release season when the crowds are light.

And if sight fishing on flats is your thing carp and freshwater drum show up when the temperature warms. These are two of the most wary species and offer a great tune up for tropical locales. Try hex nymphs and crayfish.

The crème d la crème on this river is the annual arrival of the white bass, from Mid-May to Mid-June. Look for feeding seagulls feasting on the emerald shiners that are trying to escape the white bass. And if the birds aren’t working the water, fish the tails and the bars off the points of the islands.

Doing The Elk Hair Caddis Twitch

Like so many discoveries in fly fishing the first time it occurred was probably an accident. The observation was this; when your Elk Hair Caddis swung and flitted at the end of it dead drift, it got hit hard. And that leads a fly fisher to thinking, imparting movement on your dry fly leads to more hits. Skating is the term often used; Goddard Caddis is excellent at skating. But how does one impart movement and achieve a realistic float? There are some tricks.

The very easiest way to begin to get the knack for this is to simply cast downstream. As with all fly fishing strategies, placing yourself in relation to where the fish are is the first crucial step. So when beginning to learn this technique place yourself upstream from where the trout are working. After casting downstream shake back and forth some small ‘S’ curves to get some slack. Those curves are your coils of slack to work with. When the fly arrives over the trout, twitch your rod, the lighter the better, until your fly has the twittering action of a real one. Just one skitter is enough, about an inch or so upstream. And then let the drift continue.

Once you get the hang of it you can use curve casts or even simple mending techniques for across stream casts, to get some slack in your line and using the twitch when the fly enters to the feeding lanes.

One twitch in the slack and then a natural drift is all you need to increase strikes with your favorite dry caddis imitations.

The Big Mayflies

While the Blue Wing Olive and midges hold a place in the hearts of fly fishermen for their year long presence on many rivers, when hard pressed many fly fisherman and all trout prefer the big mayfly hatches that stir up frenetic activity for us and mouth size smorgasbord for trout. The rivers of Eastern and Midwest United States offer some fabulous hatches that provide just such occasions for frenzied fly fishing action.

While big mayfly hatches are typically short lived, they are somewhat reliable can be intense and re-connect us the fly fisher with the reason we so love the puzzle that is fly fishing. Many things affect the exact timing of any specific hatch, water temperature, air temperature, barometric pressure, and time of day. But almost of equal importance as the hatch itself are the spinner falls. They aren’t as heavily pressured and since we know the hatch occurrence their exact timing is more easily pinpointed. Spinner falls are when the adult mayflies return to the water, mate, deposit their eggs and fall to the water, making another easy feast for the waiting trout.

Though they might not qualify as super sized, the Quill Gordons are the first of the year in many east coast streams. This species needs near perfect water conditions and often disappears from stretches of rivers due to agriculture run off or other man made disturbances. The nymphs are clingers and are found in fast water due to their need for oxygen. Because the hatch occurs during cold weather and once began doesn’t seem to stop due to inclement weather, the newly emerged dun needs ample time riding the water for their wings to ready for flight, making them a nice dun pattern to fish, and a great way to sharpen those dry fly casting techniques rusted from a winter of mostly nymphing.

When Quill Gordon is winding down March Browns are stirring. A sporadic hatcher like the Quill spends long periods of time floating on the water, making them a great dry fly hatch. Nymphs move toward shallow, calm areas where rocks are abundant. Emergers struggle mightily to lose their shucks thus attracting eager trout. A lot of time has been devoted to develop imitations of the March Brown nymph such as our all time favorite the Hare’s Ear, March Brown Nymph, March Brown Spider, and March Brown Wet Fly. All our effective and much time and casting should be directed at this stage of the insect.

Green Drakes vary from location. But the excitement they invoke does not. The east and Midwest both sport great populations of this mayfly. Nymphs are burrowers, emerging late May through June, the nymphs are exaggerated swimmers making the poxyback with the marabou tufts ideal to imitate the gills. The nymphs will molt up to 30 times per year making them very accessible to trout. Thus can be fished year round where populations are known.

Though the duns are fished, the spinner falls at dusk are the ideal time you want to fish these. Even the name ‘Coffin Fly’ denotes the prime target they are. Green Drake are very nutritious and due to the intensity of this hatch the fattest trout become satiated. This hatch and spinner fall is best fished at the very beginning and then again at the very end.

Following the ‘Coffin Fly’ comes the cameo appearance of the Brown Drake sneaking in before the Hex. The nymphs are burrowers living in the sand and the silt. The adult emergence happens at night as do spinner falls and they can be on the water at the same time. Fishing the Brown Drake Paradrake imitates both.

Isonychia or Slate Drake begin their emergence in early June in most waters, and unlike the other mayflies in this article, can last for months, the nymphs are swimmers and can be imitated with Zug Bugs, Sparkle Isonychia, and other full bodied patterns. Nymphs can emerge on shore or in warmer water; they make a noisy emergence in the water attracting fish.

Of all the sporadic hatches this one can provide a whole summer of activity, with duns reliably emerging in steady enough numbers to keep them on the fish menu, and artificials on the tippets of fly fishers.

The granddaddy of all large Mayflies is of course the Hex. Calendars are circled, vacations are made, and sleep is lost, for this one insect. The Hex is perhaps most famous in Michigan’s Au Sable River but also significant in regions both East and West. The adults get to size 4, but better results seem to occur with 6 and smaller. Nymphs are burrowers and live for two years. But they molt outside their burrows many times a year, making the nymphs important food for trout and steelhead if present. Hatches generally occur in the waning twilight. This event single handedly promoted Michigan night fishing trips

August Big Y Fly Co Inc Specials

Here they come sea-runs cutthroats, summer steelhead, salmon of Chinook and Atlantic varieties, the annual migration to propagate their species, and to tantalize those who go after them with a fly rod. Nothing quite like it for a fly fisher.

There are also plenty of hatches to be found including caddis, PMD, BWO, and terrestrials including everyone’s favorite hoppers. Many places you can leave the waders at home and enjoy fishing while escaping the summer heat.

Water seems to be at very fishable levels throughout the country, with plenty of water still in reservoirs or snow pack still to be melted. It was a hearty winter, while the spring and summer have played some havoc on hatches and runs, the end result is excellent fishing for the rest of summer into fall.

Monthly Specials

24 Buggers,leeches for $13.95, includes anything with a bugger tail, excellent for all sea-runs, and trophy trout lying in the cool water.

Steelhead Assortment– 12 flies for just $9.95 The assortment will include Bombers, Dredgers, Green Butt Skunk, Freight Train, Purple Peril and Skykomish Sunrise.

Atlantic Salmon Assortment-12 flies for just $9.95 The assortment will include Jock Scott, Cosseboom, Green Highlander, Green Machine, Black Bear and Silver Doctor.

Both assortments are subject to substitutions as supplies dictate
Seasonal Articles for Our Archives


Summer New England Stripers
Trico Time
Steelhead Overview

Shad Fly Fishing on American River