Spring Flings: It's Time to Knock the Rust Off Your Trout Game

I’d like to say that springtime trout fishing is as good as it gets on my home waters in Montana, as well as on many other western streams. But I hesitate to do so, wondering if I’m fond of the fishing in spring only because it arrives on the heels of winter, when frozen fingers are a significant detriment to the joy of angling.

In the end, I think spring fishing is as good as I can recall, and here’s why: I recently perused my photo archive, paying close attention to the snapshots taken in March, April and May, and my takeaway was that images don’t lie.

Last spring, in fact, I spent numerous days on Montana’s Rock Creek, Bitterroot, Blackfoot and Clark Fork rivers, all of which are within a 25-mile radius of my home in Missoula. One particular day, while fishing with my daughter (a photographer), we hit the upper portions of Rock Creek and came away with a collection of stock images to last a lifetime. That day, the creek’s wild rainbow, brown and westslope cutthroat trout eagerly smacked a big Chubby Chernobyl and the standard Pheasant Tail Nymph we trailed behind it. By the end of the day, we’d landed a couple dozen solid trout and had seen only a few other anglers on the water. That’s part of the allure of spring fishing in the West—you’ll have less competition than you will during “tourist season” when the big-name hatches come off.

Spring is also a good time to encounter large fish, meaning trout in the 18- to 20-inch range. If you’re really lucky or very good, you might find some larger than that, all very hungry after surviving on midges and tiny mayflies all winter, and all eager to make up for lost time by chowing down on the first big bugs of the year: March brown drakes and skwala stoneflies.

Those two bugs are ubiquitous in the West and may begin hatching as early as late February during abnormally warm years. They are most pronounced from mid-March through mid-May, just as the West warms, the snow and ice melt away, leaves pop on the trees and bright green grasses replace the pale brown carpet of winter.

I’m not saying the weather is always good. When fishing spring hatches, I’ve been battered by savage winds, smacked in the face by hail and sleet, soaked to the bone by heavy downpours and threatened by wandering lightning bolts. Once, I had to shovel 2 feet of snow out of a drift boat. But that’s spring in the West. You can have sleet and snow in the morning, strip down to a t-shirt in the afternoon, then quickly dig for your Gore-Tex and a stocking hat when the nasty stuff returns.

HATCH TIME

You could flip a coin to decide if March browns or skwalas provide better fishing. Because it’s a big bug and matched by high-riding dry flies, most people would lean toward the skwala. You’ll hear people at fly shops talking excitedly about the stoneflies, but you never see anglers racing to the fly bins shouting, “The March browns are here!” That may be a mistake.

March browns are large mayflies, similar to green drakes, and are most often matched with size-10 to size-14 imitations. March browns typically emerge in late morning or early afternoon, most frequently between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. The hatch is most pronounced on overcast days when the bugs must ride the current until their wings dry. At that time, they are sitting ducks for wild trout that know the feeding window is short and they need to indulge while they can.

While everyone wants to fish a dry fly, realize you can go under the surface—prior to the mayfly’s emergence—with standard nymphs, such as size-12 and size-14 Pheasant Tails and Hare’s Ears. Better yet, you can swing soft-hackle flies, such as the March Brown Spider and the March Brown Flymph, through the riffles where March brown nymphs live. Those nymphs, dislodged from the bottom, also float downstream from the riffles, landing in the slow runs and tailouts. Swinging your soft-hackles through that slow water, gently swimming them toward the surface, mimics those nymphs and often pays.

Once March brown duns are on the surface, you’ll want to switch to a dry. Some days you might find duns on the water for 3 to 4 hours or more; other times it’s a short 1- to 2-hour window when every fish in the river seems to be slashing at the surface. You can get takes on standard mayfly patterns, such as the Parachute Adams and Purple Haze, but I’ve had better luck with low-riding flies, such as a Last Chance Cripple, Sparkle Dun or Chuck Stranahan’s Brindle Chute. I guided for Stranahan back in the 1990s and he often told me, “When they won’t eat anything else, they’ll eat the Brindle Chute.” The Brindle Chute is tied with a mix of light and dark dubbing and hackle, and represents a number of mayflies, including that early March brown.

As the daily hatch winds down, you may find trout refusing your dries. At that time there might be scads of spent mayflies on and under the water. Fish may key on those, so it can pay to let your fly sink an inch or two below the surface. Takes can be subtle when doing so; to detect those bites fish a Chubby as your “indicator,” with the subsurface fly drifting a foot to 16 inches behind.

STEALTH MODE

While trout are quite active during spring, the rivers build with snowmelt and run cold. Fish hold in slower runs and back eddies, along current breaks, in little pockets along the banks and below logs and boulders—anywhere they are out of the main current and can easily grab an insect passing by.

Because you’ll find fish in slowish water, you’ll also encounter slick surfaces. This contrasts with summer hatches when you might fish the highly oxygenated choppy riffles and boulder gardens. Unfortunately, that slick water gives trout time to inspect an offering, so it makes sense to go with light tippets in the 4X and 5X range. If they won’t eat on 4X, switch to 5X and lengthen that tippet by a foot or two. Stealth can pay dividends during this hatch.

While penning pieces for “Tight Lines,” an annual publication I produced in the early 2000s, I interviewed top guides, shop owners and biologists for every major trout stream in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park. One of my favorites was the late Doug Persico, who ran Rock Creek Fisherman’s Mercantile and shared my affinity for March browns and hunting oversized trout.

During one of those interviews, Persico told me, “The March brown drake hatch is still my favorite on Rock Creek. When it’s good it’s like the fish wake up after winter and smell the coffee.

“I would much rather fish the March brown drake hatch in April than the salmonfly hatch in May or June,” Persico added. “It’s not an all-day thing but, boy, you can have fun. I’ve caught as many as 20 fish over 16 inches in the space of an hour or two. And those fish aren’t picky. They’ll hammer a size-10 anything.”

Still, skwala stoneflies are spring’s glory bug and are found on freestone rivers sprinkled around the West, including some that have eluded the prying eyes and wicked pens of outdoors writers like me. During one of the best skwala sessions I ever witnessed, bugs dropped from the sky like a steady rain, those females dabbing the water with their egg sacks as really large brown trout rose eagerly to greet them. We took a couple honest-to-goodness 4- to 5-pound browns on dries that day, a scenario I have yet to repeat.

I have caught trout on skwala stonefly nymphs as early as late February but, again, the stellar fishing, especially with dry flies, arrives in mid-March and peaks in April and May. Water temperature plays a key role in the skwala hatch. The bugs get active when the water temperature hits 40 degrees and become more so as that temperature climbs. Basically, when the water rates between 40 and 47 degrees, the bugs are popping. When the water hits 43 degrees or more, you’re likely to see a few adults on the water or in the air, and the fish start moving and taking dries.

After fishing tiny midges and smallish egg patterns all winter, matching the skwala is a refreshing change—you can tie on size-8 and size-10 dries, including Chubby Chernobyls, Skwalameisters, Rogue Stones and Water Walkers. Under the surface you rarely need anything other than an olive or yellowish-brown, size-8 to size-10 Pat’s Rubber Leg Stone or a similarly sized TJ Hooker.

When fishing cutthroat waters, those big, bushy Chernobyls work wonders; however, on heavily fished streams where picky browns and rainbows are found, your best bet is a Water Walker or Skwalameister, both of which ride relatively low on the water. If fish refuse your fly or won’t completely commit to the take, dropping down to a size 12 sometimes gives fish a little more confidence. Those low-riding patterns (especially in size 12) are more difficult for an angler to see at a distance, but they can turn refusals into takes on the most challenging days.

THE BEST FISHING

On a typical spring day, anglers often spend mornings fishing skwala nymphs under a big, high-riding Chernobyl or tandem nymphs under an indicator. You’ll know it’s time to switch to dries when you see a few nymphs scurrying along the bankside rocks or climbing up an oar paddle. You’ll spot these bugs in the air, but rarely in the numbers you might see if fishing the salmonfly and golden stone hatches. Know, however, that if you see skwalas on the bottom rocks and periodic rises, trout are eating the adult skwalas and it’s worth your time to fish a dry and a dropper. A big Chubby Chernobyl on top, with a size-10 Pat’s Rubber Leg dangling 16 inches behind, is a well proven combination.

The best fishing is in the afternoons when air and water temperatures rise, with only a few degrees often making a big difference. Many times, I’ve fished the morning hours without seeing a single rise, wondered what all the fuss is about, and considered taking up golf. Then, around 1 p.m., there they are—a rise here and there along the banks, rises on the calm inside corners below riffles and eats in the flat, glassy runs. Anywhere there is soft water along a gravel bar or a gently sloping, rocky bank, you might find skwalas drifting to and hauling out on the bank. Know that trout will be near.

Admittedly, I’m a sucker for warm weather and summer’s big-name hatches—salmonflies, golden stones, caddis, PMDs, Tricos and hoppers. But being on the water during spring, as the weather warms, hillsides green and an abundance of life returns to the West, is special. That time frame offers the sensation of endless possibility, with two great hatches going off and a whole summer resting directly ahead.

SPRING HATCH HOTBEDS

Find early action on these six legendary waters.

• Bitterroot River, MT: This is where the skwala hatch came to prominence, and a float through Montana’s Bitterroot Valley, on a warm spring day, is one of fly-fishing’s quintessential experiences.
• Clark Fork River, MT: If challenge is in your DNA, the Clark Fork fits your profile. This river, especially below Missoula, is a series of half-mile-long runs with glassy surfaces and rainbows and cutthroats that can be super picky.
• Deschutes River, OR: This is one of the prettiest rivers in the West, running through an arid canyon on its way to the Columbia River. Anglers find red-band rainbows feeding on March browns and skwalas as early as late January and early February. Prime time is March, April and early May—right when the area’s abundant rattlesnakes wake from their winter naps.
• Rock Creek, MT: Rock Creek offers a beautiful, 60-mile corridor with tons of wildlife (think bighorn sheep, moose, mountain lions, grizzly bears and deer) and lots of public access. You can find fish eating skwalas and March browns throughout the river, but the early action is best on the upper river. The March brown dry-fly action often only lasts an hour two each day. Be ready and get your licks in while you can.
• Owyhee River, OR: This desert river warms up quickly; most years you can find skwalas in abundance by early March. They’ll be present through May with big rainbows and some mega browns there to eat them.
• Yakima River, WA: Eastern Washington warms early and anglers often find March browns and skwalas before the end of February.

---

This article was featured in the April 2025 issue of Game & Fish magazine. Click to subscribe

---