In this week’s “How to Tie” video feature, Simon with Caddis Fly Angling Shop ties a style of mayfly emerger that every angler should be carrying in their fly box this time of year, a March Brown Hackle Stacker Emerger.
Learn About This Fly:
Difficulty: Difficult
For trout anglers, the Spring season is in full swing as we enter one of the most anticipated times of year, where hatches become prolific and large fish gorge themselves. There may be no sight in fly fishing quite like a trout coming to the surface to sip a dry fly or emerger. That image has corrupted more anglers than anything and spiraled many into full blown addiction to the sport. Mayflies are just one of many insects that begin hatching in large numbers during the warmer months, and if you start seeing Marchs beginning to pop off, you must be prepared with a March Brown Hackle Stacker Emerger.
Tying this pattern as a novice will be difficult but certainly attainable with attention to detail and patience. One addition to this emerger that will test you is the hackle stacker method, a way to create a low riding profile to entice selective trout sipping on top. Using this method creates the impression of a mayfly attempting to reach its final stage of life as an adult but struggling just under the surface. There is nothing that fish love more than an easy meal and using a March Brown Hackle Stacker Emerger will give the appearance of just that.
Coming prepared to the river is essential to your success as an angler but can be difficult to nail down when just starting out. For beginners looking to hook their first trout on a dry fly, a standard 9′ 5WT setup will do the job exceptionally. This combination provides you with enough backbone and tippet protection to fight nearly all trout with confidence and without complicating things too much early on. When you identify larger mayflies coming off the surface of the water this Spring, you won’t want to be the angler that forgets their batch of March Brown Hackle Stacker Emergers.
Ingredients:
- Hook: Ahrex FW530 Sedge: 14
- Thread: Semperfli Nanosilk 50D: Brown
- Shuck: EP Trigger Point Fibers: March Brown & Hareline Pheasant Tail
- Abdomen: Hareline Pheasant Tail & Uni XS Soft Wire: Gold
- Thorax: Hareline Microfine Dry Dub: Baetis Tan (SMF8)
- Wing: Hareline CDC: Tan
- Hackle Stack: Uni Flex: Camel & Whiting Barred Medium Ginger Saddle
- Resin: Solarez Bone Dry
- UV Torch: Loon Plasma Light
Now you know how to tie a March Brown Hackle Stacker Emerger!
Video and ingredients courtesy of Caddis Fly Angling Shop.
