Early signs of spring showed up this weekend. Typical winter hatches of blue wing olives and stones were joined by sparse but consistent March brown hatches during the warmest and sunniest parts of the day.
With enough sunshine and warmth, some fish have started looking up. Dry fly fishing has some potential for success this week with the weather forecast looking balmy until next weekend. This weekend’s fishing saw multiple fish came up for small March brown dries in slow, deep, pools and typical cold season holding water. One eager fish took both dry flies in one aggressive sweeping eat. They might be as excited as us anglers are at the prospect of larger insect life showing up on the surface again.
Swinging soft hackles or dropping a lightly weighted softie under a bouyant march brown dry can be a really fun way to fish this time of year as well, and can be a good method to prospect with or use when fish don’t seem to want the dry. Most fish were still taken this past week on standard winter nymphing fare — a mega prince or a large stonefly and a gaudy jig under a bobber— but coming weeks should open up different exciting avenues for angling.
Water levels are looking great. The river is dropping and in perfect shape.
Water temperatures remain cool. When you see the water temps tick up just a bit you will see more adult insects including more caddis and March Browns.
