Illustration by Thom Glace – rainbow trout, brown trout, and brook trout as mentioned herein and used with permission. All fish called trout are members of the subfamily Salmoninae and among the fish in the genera Salvelinus (chars), Salmo (Atlantic trouts), and Oncorhynchus (Pacific trouts and Pacific salmon).
Henry Clement, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, August 2023.
March Browns, a mayfly, shucks an old life and gets a new life or gives one away trying
By Henry Clement
A March Brown fly can be designed and tied to imitate the any stage of its life. This mayfly is a common food source for trout and other fish.
The March Brown aquatic ‘bug’ is a mayfly that hatches in late spring, during the warmest part of the day. The hatch can start in the late morning and continue through the afternoon.
The temperature that can trigger the life cycle event for the bug is around 42°F / 5.5°C.
The gorge stage for trout would be the mayflies emerging from their benthic state. That puts the ‘shucking stage’ anywhere between being suspended between riverine benthic and the water surface where they could fly away as a winged dun.
Perhaps the best stage to catch trout is when the mayfly (March brown) is shucking their ‘shell’
The most popular armament is a 9′ 5-weight, with a line chosen according to how you plan to fish: benthic, mid-water, or surface. A #10 to #28 hook tied, but more productively, #10 size (roughly) to #18 size (roughly) on a tube with a smaller hook than the estimated weight size. Buy only the best hooks for tube flies: super sharp, carbon steel, and thick wire.
Note: The best and most straightforward way to prepare for fly fishing in mid-water or benthic is with a weighted line and fly (see video) of your preferred kind.
What do March Brown mayflies look like?
- Creamy tan to pale yellow thoraxes and abdomens
- Cream legs with areas of dark brown banding on the femurs
- Tannish-yellow wings heavily mottled with dark brown to black venations
- Two dark brown tails banded with lighter areas
Angie and I fished this spot in 2024 and many times before that. Photo-the Eberle Farmstead in the summer of 1922. Friends of Angie’s great grandfather, Judge Eberle, angling for stocked trout.
Fly fishing the Eberle Farmstead with Angie
The March browns were feasted upon in shallows with a brisk flow, but surface swirls could be seen. The trout, enjoying the free lunch special, looked like browns and brookies. They were too busy to worry about us, so we had a good stare, at least temporarily, and then they spooked. Angie seined the water for a sampling look—mayfly shucks—and a handful unshucked, struggling to complete the plan and fly away.
Days’ end
Just as the winter night dimmed the lighting, Angie caught a resident rainbow that defied survival and became dinner. While preparing the trout, I noticed its stomach was full of what I guessed to be pre-hatch March browns. That stage, at which the March Brown mayflies are more plentiful, is usually mid-water—somewhere beyond benthic and surface. It is an interval stage and reveals perfectly the answer to the question of what the trout were feeding on so intensely.
Fat boy
Our Oncorhynchus mykiss rainbow was fat, and it was just mid-February. The 2024 winter was mild, and thus some terrestrials perhaps, but undoubtedly, a rich supply of baitfish, sculpins, larvae, pupa, and early hatches kept the residents full of protein.
Watch the tie and listen to Tim Flagler’s commentary
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