March Brown Spinner
If you live anywhere near the Bitterroot River then every March you listen for the whispers and rumors of the first Squwala sighting and even though you know it will be packed with every guide west of the Missouri you still head out there for the chance to throw a big dry to fish that haven’t seen anything bigger than a midge in four months. As with the Salmonfly hatch on other famous rivers, the Squwala hatch on the Bitterroot makes everyone a little crazy. It’s easy to get caught in the madness and forget that there are other bugs that also hatch during this time. One of those is the March Brown. It rarely comes off in big numbers, but at times the spinner fall can call up some fantastic fishing. On the water the spinners are hard to spot, but you might see the clouds of big mayflies dancing above a riffle and then notice subtle rises in the tail out below. Many of the people will stay so obsessed with the inch long olive stonefly that they won’t notice or switch flies when the fish obviously have. Sometimes, I think the fish see so many Squwala patterns that they key on other bugs just for safety’s sake.
Whether you are on the Bitterroot or not, if you have March Brown’s around in the Spring then this is a good pattern to have on hand. It’s easy and fast to tie and gives a good silhouette that you can still see.
Hook: Standard size 10 or 12 dry fly
Thread: Ultra thread 70 tan
Tail: Moose
Rib: Fine gold tinsel
Body: Chocolate dubbing (I blend some dark hare’s ear with chocolate poly dubbing)
Wing: Dyed brown grizzly neck hackle
