Eastern March Brown Dun

The Eastern March Brown Dun is a classic early-season dry fly tied to imitate one of the most anticipated spring mayflies in eastern trout waters, known for its slightly lighter body tones and soft gray wings compared to its western counterpart. Traditional tiers modeled the fly after the unmistakable emergence of these medium-sized duns, whose sporadic hatching behavior often triggers aggressive, confident rises even from wary fish. Early American fly dressers adapted older European patterns, refining them with local materials such as wood-duck wings and natural fawn dubbing to better match the lighter Eastern insects.

Add a single micro-twitch at the end of your drift—just as the fly begins to fall below the trout’s window. Eastern March Browns often struggle briefly on the surface before lifting off, and that tiny, late-drift movement perfectly imitates the natural hesitation, triggering reflex strikes from fish that ignored the dead-drifted presentation.