BirdTrout
Open the map
March Brown
A dry fly, tied #10–12, a spring pattern. It is tied against 1 named insect in this book — May–June.
A large mottled dun tied on a standard dry-fly hook in sizes 10–12 with tan 8/0 thread. Brown hackle fibres make the tail, the body is tan-brown dubbing ribbed with fine gold wire, the wings are wood-duck flank or mottled turkey set upright, and the hackle is brown and grizzly mixed, which is where the mottling in the silhouette comes from. It is tied against the March Brown, Maccaffertium vicarium, a mayfly of May and June that moves in water from 50 to 62 degrees, and trout are the fish it is dressed for. The hatch it answers is sparse and spread over hours rather than concentrated, so in practice the fly works as a searching pattern on March Brown water instead of a match for a blanket emergence. It is a spring fly, carried for late May afternoons, when a big mottled dun on the surface is a plausible thing for a trout to see.
- #10–12Hook size
- dry flyType
- SpringSeason
- 1Hatch matched
What it looks like
A drawing, not a photograph, and not traced from one. Its proportions were read off 5 independent reference photographs of the pattern and written down as 5 measured characteristics — wing angle, tail length against the shank, how far a hackle fibre reaches — every one of which had to hold across more than one of them before it could be drawn. What survives across many photographs of a fly is the fly.
What it imitates
Each of these is the same hatch record the app's own panel reads, so a pattern recommended on a river card in the app is recommended for one of the insects below.
Tying recipe
In tying order. This dressing is the standard one — these patterns have been in the publicrecord for decades — and materials substitute freely: the proportions and the silhouette are the pattern, not the brand of dubbing.
| Hook | Standard dry-fly hook, sizes 10–12 |
|---|---|
| Thread | Tan 8/0 |
| Tail | Brown hackle fibres |
| Body | Tan-brown dubbing, ribbed with fine gold wire |
| Wings | Wood-duck flank or mottled turkey, upright |
| Hackle | Brown and grizzly mixed |
When to fish it
Sparse hatches over hours in May and June. A searching fly on March Brown water rather than a match for a blanket.
A spring pattern. The insects it matches are active may–june, in water from 50°F to 62°F.
Target species
- Trout
Rivers it fishes well
Rivers with a page here that sit in the regions where the insects this pattern imitates are recorded. It is a claim about coverage, not a report of a fish caught.
- Au Sable River northern lower Michigan · July mean 72.1°F
- Catawba River the North Carolina mountains · July mean 76.7°F
- Jackson River the Virginia mountains · July mean 66.3°F
- Muskegon River northern lower Michigan · July mean 71.0°F
- Smith River the Virginia mountains · July mean 51.9°F
- Tygart Valley River the Virginia mountains · July mean 74.6°F
- Kalamazoo River southern lower Michigan · July mean 71.3°F
- Aaron Creek the North Carolina mountains · July mean 76.7°F
- Aaron Run the Virginia mountains · July mean 77.1°F
- Aarons Run the Virginia mountains · July mean 74.2°F
- Abb Run the Virginia mountains · July mean 77.1°F
- Abes Run the Virginia mountains · July mean 71.1°F
Related patterns
Same type of fly, or tied for the same insects.
- Parachute Adams dry fly · #12–20 — Universal mayfly dun imitation. Every angler carries these.
- Red Quill Spinner dry fly · #12–16 — The Hendrickson male, and the evening fall after the hatch.
- Adams (Catskill) dry fly · #12–20 — The original. Rides higher than the parachute in broken water.
- Adult Cranefly dry fly · #10–16 — Long trailing legs, sparse hackle, skittered rather than drifted. Autumn and spring evenings on the bank side.
- Adult Damsel dry fly · #10–14 — Blue or olive extended body on a foam post. For midsummer afternoons on slow weedy water.