What hatches in March: flies and patterns

7 entries in the Hatch Window curated chart are typically active in March, with the fly patterns that match each.

By water type

• Tailwater: Midges, Blue-Winged Olive, Baitfish / sculpins (streamer season), Scuds & Sowbugs
• Freestone: Midges, Blue-Winged Olive, Skwala Stonefly, Baitfish / sculpins (streamer season), Quill Gordon, Blue Quill
• Spring creek: Midges, Blue-Winged Olive, Baitfish / sculpins (streamer season), Scuds & Sowbugs, Blue Quill

Hatches and matching patterns

Midges

• Zebra Midge (nymph, size 18-22)
• Griffith's Gnat (dry, size 18-22)
• Rojo Midge (nymph, size 20-24)

Year-round on tailwaters, most reliable hatch on cold winter days when little else is moving.

Blue-Winged Olive

• Parachute Adams (dry, size 16-20)
• Pheasant Tail Nymph (nymph, size 16-20)
• CDC BWO Sparkle Dun (emerger, size 18-20)

Best on overcast, drizzly spring and fall days; spring and fall are two distinct emergence windows.

Skwala Stonefly

• Skwala Stone Dry (dry, size 8-12)
• Pat's Rubber Legs (nymph, size 8-10)

Early-season Western freestone stonefly; fish move to banks well before the well-known salmonfly hatch.

Baitfish / sculpins (streamer season)

• Woolly Bugger (streamer, size 4-10)
• Sculpzilla (streamer, size 2-6)

Not a hatch, fished when bugs are scarce and big fish are feeding aggressively (pre-runoff and fall, ahead of brown trout spawning).

Scuds & Sowbugs

• Scud (olive/tan) (nymph, size 14-18)
• Sowbug (nymph, size 14-18)

Not a hatch, a year-round staple on cold, stable tailwaters and spring creeks (the South Holston and Clinch in Tennessee, the Bighorn and San Juan out West, Pennsylvania limestoners, the Driftless Area) where crustaceans outnumber insects.

Quill Gordon

• Quill Gordon Dry (Catskill-tie) (dry, size 12-14)
• Quill Gordon Soft Hackle (emerger, size 12-14)
• Hare's Ear Nymph (nymph, size 12-16)

One of the first major spring mayflies on Southern Appalachian (Great Smoky Mountains) and Catskill freestones; emerges midday in cold water, nymphs cling to fast riffles.

Blue Quill

• Blue Quill Parachute (dry, size 16-18)
• Pheasant Tail Nymph (nymph, size 16-18)

A small, dark early-spring mayfly that overlaps the Quill Gordon in the Smokies and the Northeast; smaller and later into the afternoon than the Gordon.

Browse the neighbouring months: February · April · all months.