Bodkin / Patterns

March Brown

Dry Fly · Trout · Grayling · Intermediate · 5 versions

Catskill Dressing

• Hook Standard dry fly, 10-12
• Thread Orange 8/0

Materials

• Wings Wood duck flank (upright and divided)
• Tail Speckled brown (mottled) hackle fibers (one shank length)
• Body Fawn/tan fox belly fur (dubbed, ribbed)
• Rib Brown thread or tan silk (even spiral)
• Hackle Ginger and grizzly, mixed (3-4 turns)

How to tie it

1. Mount hook, start orange thread, and set wood duck wings upright and divided at 70%.
2. Tie in a speckled brown tail one shank length long, and catch in the rib at the bend.
3. Dub a fawn-tan body forward to the wings, then counter-wrap the rib in 5-6 even turns for segmentation.
4. Tie in a ginger and a grizzly hackle together and wind them mixed, 2 turns behind and 2 in front of the wings. The mixed hackle gives the mottled March Brown look.
5. Whip finish.

Substitutions

• Body instead of Tan dubbing with brown markings: March Brown Superfine — Color-matched blend; Fox squirrel dubbing — Natural tan/brown mix
• Wing instead of Wood duck flank: Dyed mallard flank (lemon wood duck) — Easier to source; Gadwall flank — Similar barring
• Rib instead of Yellow thread: Yellow floss — Wider segmentation; Fine gold wire — Adds durability and flash

Other versions

4 more in the app: Classic Recipe, Fischer's Flies, Gregg Dressing (1940), Beadhead.

Tying videos

• March Brown — Fischer's Flies (YouTube)
• March Brown — Beadhead (YouTube)
• March Brown — tightlinevideo (YouTube)

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