His Extra Stout is loosely based on a friend's leech pattern for lake fishing, McGinnis says. He rejected the standard chenille body used on the tried and true woolly bugger.

Boat and shore anglers are catching good numbers of fish while using dark colored leech patterns, wooly buggers, and small streamers or spawn sacks.

The “Egg-Sucking Leech” has proven to be a very effective fly pattern for anglers targeting steelhead in the Chautauqua County Lake Erie tributaries. Photo courtesy of FleegersFlies.com The winter ...

Small streamers, egg flies and leech patterns have been working well and some anglers are using spawn sacks or plain crawlers on floating jigs.