Lots of good suggestions so far. I prefer to wade most of those lakes instead of bothering with a tube any more so I might be a bit biased to shallow water choices, but these are my favorites.
1. Hares Ear Nymph size 14. Flash back or not, mostly unweighted or just a bit of wire.
2. Scuds in smoky olive tan and orange, but mostly in the olive. I prefer size 12 and seldom go smaller than 14 or bigger than 10. Tons of good patterns but keep them simple.
3. Simi-seal leeches. I have never used the balanced leeches mostly because those fish best with an indicator and I seldom use those in still water. (Or at all.) I use them in all sizes but have had real good luck with size 14 both with and without bead heads.
4. Size 14 and 18 parachute Adams will do for midges and Callibaetis.
5. Some sort of skittering caddis pattern for when the traveling sedges are pulling fish to the surface.
6. Zebra midges in various colors and sizes.
7. Soft hackle emergers to fish on a slow retrieve just under the surface. When. Fish are rising in these lakes, they are actually feeding just under the surface most of the time.
8. Damsel nymph both to fish deep and that will fish shallow for the migrations. I have had good luck with the gray olive simi-seal tied like a small clump leech, but many patterns will work.
9. Various wooly buggers, particularly small Thin Mints. Sometimes fished real shallow above the weeds, but also twitched near the bottom to imitate crayfish.
10. After experiencing some infrequent but exciting feeding frenzies, I would never fish a lake again without a couple royal blue adult damsel dry flies in my box.
There are others but this should keep you busy.
And if he wants to get her another fishing present that will often make a difference, suggest an intermediate clear sinking line. Those allow you to fish shallow, but control the line because it sinks below the wind chop on the surface.
Have fun tying.
And Dillon is right that you can never go wrong following Rickards’ patterns and instructions.
Don
