Not all flies are created equal either. "Many flies have too much material in them," Stieben said. "It doesn't allow for the contrast you need in a fly. Thinner flies often work the best."

How thin? Last year, a fellow captain at my dock had a fly hanging from one of his rods that couldn't have had more than a half-dozen strands of material left on it. I offered to give him a new one. He refused, saying that the mangled fly outproduced all of his others by a 3-to-1 ratio. Sometimes all you need is the illusion. I know several captains who give their flies a "haircut" immediately after taking them out of the package. That is often why flies produce better after they have caught a few fish and have been thinned out.

Stieben had another tip about flies. "Make sure the hook is at the back of the fly," he advised. "Add beads to position the hook near the rear of the fly because salmon often just nip at the fly. This way, they're more likely to get hooked."

What about hooks? Treble or single? "Both work well if you keep them sharp," Stieben said. "I know people swear by single hooks, but from a production standpoint, they're a lot more labor intensive."

Most commercial flies come with a single treble hook. Stieben said on some of his personal flies he often ties in a single hook ahead of a treble, and the rig is deadly.

Fly colors run the gamut from light to dark, and often depend on the species. Orange, chartreuse, red, pink and other bright colors are good for cohos and steelhead. But smaller dark flies often "match the hatch" when the fish are feeding on insects. Chinooks seem to prefer cool colors -- shades of green, blue and purple. Almost all flies have some glow material added to them. The phrase on Lake Michigan is, "if it don't glow, it don't go." But the glow can be overdone, too. Most captains agree that subtler glow colors in flies seem to produce best.

"I really like the Strong Flies that are produced by Dreamweaver," Freeman said. "They're ready to fish right out of the package. They have good hooks and a 50-pound leader, and have been hot for me the last few years." Freeman's favorite colors in the Strong Flies include mountain dew, blue fairways and green mirage.

Flashers come in a variety of sizes. For the most part, the medium-sized rotators are the most popular and productive, but the other sizes have their place. Stieben said two sizes of his Opti-Tackle's Inticer see the bulk of the work on his boat, and the 8-inch model is the one he reaches for nearly 90 percent of the time. Stieben said the larger flashers excel when using meat and with longer leads on flies.

"I've experimented with the bigger flashers," Freeman said. "The only one I've had really good results with is the 10-inch Spin Doctor. I'm sure other brands work, but I've had good luck with the Spin Doctors, especially with cut bait." Freeman said his best flasher colors are white glow with a white blade, blue bubble, and a dark green flasher with crushed white glow tape.

Most flashers feature glow-in-the-dark tape. "About 75 percent of the flashers on the market have glow tape on them," Stieben claimed. "They are especially good early in the day and when fishing deep. The glow on the flasher is more important than the fly. What you're looking for is a subtle afterglow. Too much glow can be overkill."

There's good reason why more and more Lake Michigan anglers are relying on flashers and flies. They're a combination fit for a king!