March Brown Hatch goes off despite high water

This past Friday we led a large group of young fly anglers on an outing down the Mckenzie River. When we put all eight boats in the water a Deerhorn boat ramp the water level read 6300 cubic feet per second at Walterville and almost 10,000cfs at Hayden Bridge.

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Hopes were not high. We knew the river was dropping but did’nt expect much in terms of fishing. The kids were great sports, and when we could find a place to slow the boat down, we fished swung wet flies with some success. As the day developed the river dropped and cleared. At 1:30pm the best March Brown hatch any of the eight guides had seen all year popped. Very few fish were up on the surface but they would eat the down and accross swung March Brown Emerger, or Royal Coachman Wet fly. Possie buggers coupled with a March Brown Wet also worked.

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Currently the water is clear and in fishable shape, especially from a boat. It looks like we will have decent weather and good water this spring break week. Anglers who get out on the Mckenzie will see good numbers of March Browns and the best dry fly fishing so far this winter/spring.

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