March Brown May 1, 2020

Recent rains flooded the Davidson River drainage and many other rivers in the area. However, good fishing is available. The river rose to almost 900 cfs after the rains, but has dropped to 246 as of today. When the Davidson is above 300 cfs, fishing is difficult. One thing to consider when the water is a bit high on the lower tier rivers is to travel up the mountain. My son Ben and I did just that, we went up Looking Glass Creek until we found a good water level.

This is the best time of the year to be out fly fishing. Hatches are abundant, the water levels are great and you are no longer freezing to catch a fish. Yesterday was a great day. Ben and I were able to wet wade the creek and the fish were rising to bugs. We experimented with nymphing and dry fly fishing. Ben fished the dries and I was nymphing, however he was catching the fish. The fish are looking up and a well-presented dry fly imitation can produce exciting results.

Ben caught the first larger trout on a March Brown. The March Browns are sporadic hatchers and are a great pattern to fish during the day searching for trout.

However, we were lucky and found a pool with rising trout. We caught several trout in this location, mostly on the March Brown size 14 dry. I tried other patterns but that was the go-to fly of the day. We picked up several more fish wading upstream.

Fishing the lower tier rivers is going to yield a lot of anglers on the water. The Davidson, East Fork and other area streams are getting a lot of traffic during the day. There are good hatches coming off with a

lot of variety. Keep your eyes open to what is hatching on the specific stream you are fishing.

Right now, there are caddis and mayflies out, as well as inch worms and other odd balls that the fish may be taking. We were also seeing March Browns on the river. Each river may be different and there are also different sections of a river, so be observant and keep and assortment of Mahogany Dun, March Brown, Grey fox and caddis patterns for on top. Have an assortment of mayfly nymphs and caddis pattern for non-hatch fishing, as well as mop flies, stones and streamers for rain events. Soon the sulfurs will start hatching, so start carrying an assortment of sulfur dries, emergers, spinners and nymphs.

In order to avoid the crowds, try fishing the evening hatches. Be on the river during the last 2 hours of light and you might be surprised what you see. Get out and go fly fishing, now is the time.

Tight Lines

Patrick Weaver

Fly Fishing Guide and Instuctor