Written by Mike Gentry

The March Brown is the earliest of the seasonal mayfly hatches and is much anticipated by both fishermen and their quarry.  I've had some memorable days fishing this fly in late March and early April on the Mackenzie and other rivers in Oregon.  This comparadun pattern is one of my favorite and a proven morsel when the fish are taking a dun.

Hook:        Tiemco 100 #12-14
Thread:     Tan or dun
Tail:            Betts Z-ion, standard #9 - white
Body:        Light tan (cahill) dubbing
Wing:        Medium Deer Hair


1. Wind the tying thread to the beginning of the bend of the hook and wrap a tiny ball of thread at that point.

2. Tie in two microfibrettes (I do them one at a time) on either side of the ball, with the securing wraps of thread just toward the eye side of the ball.  That will cause the tails to flare out.  The tails are slightly longer than the body.

3.  Tie in a bunch of stacked deer hair on top of the hook, about midway between the tail and the eye, and secure with tight wraps so that the hair flares out to the sides and top of the hook.  Wrap the hair butts tightly with several turns of thread back toward the tail and trim the excess hair butts, then applying additional thread wraps so that you have created a tapered underbody.

4.  With your fingers, flare and shape the deer hair wing perpendicular to the hook and fanning out over the top of the hook.  I usually put some thread wraps right in front of the flared wing to hold it upright.

5.  Bring the thread back to the tail tie-in point, make a dubbing loop, and create a thin dubbing "yarn" of light tan dubbing.  Wind the dubbing yar forward to, around, and in front of the wing to just behind the eye.  Tie off and trim the excess dubbing yarn.

6. Build a head with thread, tie off and finish with a small drop of head cement.