March Brown Flymph...Version X (Eastern US, male)

[William Anderson]

I hesitate to post this as it's a trial pattern and a sad, lacking photo, but I'm working on it. Maybe it will spawn some conversation. March Brown's must be the most widely varied patterns. This is a subject that I found very confusing as a new tier when I first realized the patterns people posted and discussed were either male or female, and Western US, Eastern US or UK/European, although it was rare that anyone specified which and no one gave me a heads up for a couple years.

I'm tying to work out a good representational pattern for the Eastern MB. There are dozens of exceptional patterns shown on this site and dozens elsewhere. Bill Shuck seems to have spent the past couple years nailing down beautiful Leisenring and Hidy variations and recently Wayne and Paul just posted some wonderful examples. A search on the forum offers a very wide variety and I see that I've posted a number of March Brown patterns that are contradictory and complimentary to each other. The standard soft-hackle or flymph is medium hare's ear on orange or yellow silk, and partridge hackle, partridge tails, etc. but honestly, the adult bodies are creamier/yellow as in the nice Catskill dry patterns and wings more amber or yellow although the brown partridge hackles are near perfect. Nymph bodies are more mottled amber and brighter than the pheasant tail usually sited. The Western US species is smaller and has more orange to it but in the East it's a much lighter fly. I don't usually get all worked up about matchy matchy representations but I'm giving it some thought. The fly below seems to represent more of a nymph body with adult wings. Honestly, finding a pattern that works isn't so much the issue, as these are not hard to find, but I'm trying to resolve some of the ambiguity. Any help would be much appreciated.

So a couple of issues:
1. an adult stage flymph
2. an emerging nymph stage flymph

Hook: #14 dry
Thread: Uni Rusty Orange
Hackle: Speckled hen
Tail: Wood duck dyed yellow
Rib: Gold Tinsel
Body: 50/50 Brown-natural seal and hare blend pre-spun on primrose silk. (Clark's Block)

[William Anderson]

I'm still looking through all the excellent examples posted on the forum. This stands out as maybe the end of the search, but I still think there is some room to explore a little.

http://www.flymphforum.com/viewtopic.ph ... own#p64793

And you guys really knocked it out of the park with the April Fools March Brown Swap #20. It's all there. I am amazed at the patterns in this swap. Well done.

http://www.flymphforum.com/viewtopic.ph ... arch+brown

[zen leecher]

Wm,

I knew our Western MBs were bigger but didn't know there was a subtle color difference (until you mentioned it). I was gonna ask if your colors were off. My uncle fished the March Brown back when I was a kid. He used the MB and I used the Light Cahill. Back then in the late 50's, the March Brown fly pattern was brown and I still remember the hackle on the fly. I wish I knew what feather they used for hackle. My guess is it was a trimmed hackle as it was common to do that for sizing back then.

[tie2fish]

I think that one of the reasons that there are so many different March Brown patterns is that, like several mayfly species, there are subtle variations in colors from one watershed to another, even in the same general geographical area. Whether this has to do with differences in water composition (spring water vs freestone water vs tailwater, etc) or streambed differences or just plain random mutations, I do not know. But I do know that the March Browns that show up on Penns Creek look different that those I've seen on the Willowemoc, so if one fishes in different places and is really determined to mimic the exact bug that he encounters in each spot, he ought have more than one variation in his arsenal. However, I am not sure that this is really necessary; the same basic March Brown pattern that caught fish for me in PA also fooled fish in the Catskills.

William, that is one fine flymph and I wish I could see it in person. The color register on my monitor has it showing a greenish body hue to the point where I would have guessed Green Drake.

[novabass]

Nice post William, I really enjoyed the information you provided.
The fly you posted is definitely a nice looking pattern, but like Bill, it looks green to me.

[Smuggler]

Good post. I think Bill (tie2fish) is pretty spot on with his description of MBs and their environment. This is a very interesting bug and I love seeing the numerous variations of patterns (especially flymph and soft hackles) that pop up.

I've caught fish on these patterns all from the same stream, I'll attach this photo for reference. I'm sure color plays a part in copying these imitations but, I believe presentation is what helps me take fish with these. Probably ranting, enjoy the pic.

[Old Hat]

March Browns are very diverse as this thread alludes to. Quite more diverse I think than east/west in the US or by world region. I have noticed many differences in size, shade, mottling on different waters just in Oregon and great differences between nymphs and emergers in the same water. It is one of those hatches that really gets you thinking about tying specifically to the water you are fishing. As a bit of a disclaimer though, I have found that it isn't really necessary as most generalistic brown patterns witha darker thorax and a little gold flash fished correctly will be adequate in most circumstances. Although, the thrill and fun of the investigation as you are doing William should not be understated as what we as fly fishers are all about. I will also add that hands down, the flymph design has far and away out fished nymph and dries for this hatch for me. I don't feel this is too biased as it is the March brown flymph that got me into this style of fly after having very little luck with nymphs and dries on the Deschutes River. I used to live just a couple hundred yards from the Deschutes with just wonderful March Brown hatches. After having what I would call sub par results on nymphs and dries I was led by the grace of God to flymphs and the rest of the story continues...

[DUBBN]

I think I chase the shades of baetis nymphs/emergers, the way the rest of you chase March Browns . I am enjoying the discussion and photos of this thread.

[redietz]

I have noticed many differences in size, shade, mottling on different waters just in Oregon and great differences between nymphs and emergers in the same water.

And let's not forget that the Gray Fox was determined to be just a[nother] color variant of the Eastern March Brown.

[Mataura mayfly]

Coming soon to a book store near you, guaranteed next "Best Seller"...... 50 Shades of March Brown.
Movie rights still available.