March Madness is here: Time for trout fishing

Ok, I confess, I have been not out on the Lower Mckenzie or the Middle Fork. I have succumbed to a severe case of “winter steelhead fever”, and shop time. My fever has subsided, I have regained consciousness, and ready to pursue our beloved Redsides!

McKenzie River Wild Trout

McKenzie River Rainbows

Customers and our Caddis Shop guides are reporting seeing “a few” March Brown’s on our local waters. I have been on the mighty Willamette and did see “a few” March Browns for a very brief time around 2:00pm. With the forecast for showers, sun breaks, and cooler weather anglers should begin to see stronger hatches.

Last year, Chris and Ethan took a trip and Ethan shared some of his tactics and strategies regarding nymphing and swing fly’s during March Brown time. It never hurts to get a reminder about tactics or hatches.

Why swing two flies? Sometimes you get doubles. Sometimes on the upper fly I’ll put a bead head on to keep the flies from skating on top in the faster water. But honestly, two flies give you two chances. Even though the upper fly is on a much heavier tippet, the fish don’t seem to mind much.
A team of flies is always better. The other thing is you can experiment with different patterns. Sometimes on a bright day a drab fly works better, and on a cloudy overcast day you want to specifically match the hatch.

What is the leader set up? Leader length is 9-10 feet, tapered leader cut in half. Tie a blood knot and run the upper fly off the blood knot with a 2x loop to loop dropper. This is the most tangle-free way to go.

Shop customers or clients will ask “how do you set up for nymphing”? Chris has repeatedly shared what he has in this video below.

We have a full set of March Brown patterns in the shop. I have been using a version of the Royal Coachman Wet with Golden Pheasant tippets on the Willy.

Let’s have Spring and the hatch of March Browns begin!
-LV

Our library of march brown fly tying videos is below. Take it easy on us, some of these were filmed four years ago.

March Brown Fly Tying Videos:

March Brown Soft Hackle

Hidden Bead March Brown Soft Hackle

March Brown Coachman Wet

March Brown Sparkle Dun

March Brown CDC Emerger

March Brown Para-Wulff

March Brown Thorax Dun

Klinkhammer March Brown Emerger

March Brown Parachute

March Brown Nymph

This entry was posted in Fishing Reports, Lower Willamette, McKenzie River, Middle Fork Willamette River fishing. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *