Favorite Flies for the Upper Midwest: 50 Essential Patterns from Local Experts

This new entry in the Stackpole Favorite Flies series covers flies for the Upper Midwest—Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. This area has fishing that is very different than the rest of the Midwest (Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Illinois), and Jerry Darkes leads anglers through it.

The Favorite Flies series pulls together fifty important (either from a historical or fishing or both standpoint) flies from a particular region, tied by anglers with close ties and local knowledge of the place. Each fly featured in a spread that includes large, easy to see image, recipe, tying notes, and a supplemental image or possibly a few tying steps if a technique needs to be illustrated.

This book, though not a tying manual, showcases important flies that work well on the water for a given area and a fishing/tying resource and tribute to the region.

Jerry Darkes is a fly tackle sales rep, instructor/guide, and writer based in northern Ohio. He has over four decades of fly fishing experience in both fresh and saltwater and is recognized as an expert on Great Lakes steelhead and warm water fly fishing. He is also a member of the Scott Fly Rod and Scientific Anglers Pro Staffs. Jerry was the first “fly fishing only” guide on Ohio’s Lake Erie tributaries and helped to pioneer many of the fly patterns and techniques used today.

Darkes has authored numerous articles in a variety of publications including Ohio Outdoors, Warmwater Fly Fishing, Saltwater Fly Fishing, Wild Steelhead and Salmon, Fly Fish America, Midwest Fly Fishing, American Angler, Fly Tyer, Southwest Fly Fishing and Eastern Fly Fishing. He is the author of Fly Fishing the Inland Oceans (Stackpole Books, 2013, 978-0811709316) and Essential Flies for the Great Lakes Region: Patterns, and Their Histories, for Trout, Steelhead, Salmon, Smallmouth, Muskie, and More (Stackpole 2020, 978-0811739627)

He has been featured in several books and video/DVD productions about Great Lakes fly fishing. He is also a well-known fly tyer and has created a series of Guide Patterns instructional fly-tying DVDs focusing on Great Lakes steelhead and other gamefish. Jerry gives many programs and demonstrations throughout the region and has been featured on several television shows including Trout Unlimited TV and Outdoors Ohio. He lives in Strongsville, Ohio.