Flat Wing March Brown

If you like fishing the March Brown pattern, make sure you have a few of these flat wing, spinner versions of the Brown. The "spinner" stage is the last life phase for aquatic insects. The trout will find the spent bug too good to pass up. We use Hungarian Partridge both for our tail fibers and for our flat wings. Strip off three to four fibers from a partridge feather, measure them to the length of the hook shank, and secure them as tails on top of the hook, extending beyond the hook bend. Secure a piece of silver wire - brassie size - on the far side of the hook, bringing your thread back towards the hook bend. Brush out some guard hairs and dubbing from a Hare's mask. Dub it tightly to the thread, and begin taking wraps (some overlapping) towards the eye, building a slight taper. Next, take open, spiral wraps of the silver wire up the hook to create the hint of segmentation. Find two partridge feathers with the same size, color, and marking. Strip the lower fibers from the feathers, so you can secure both wings by their bare stems. Tie in the first wing on the top of the hook shank, jutting out level and perpendicular from the hook shank. Pull the stem to slightly shorten the wing length which will also help the flat wing spread out. Next, do the same with the second wing, which will jut out the opposite direction of the first. Trim off the two feather stems closely. Finally, get more dubbing from the Hare's mask. I will try to get some darker dubbing to help the thorax stand out better. As you dub the thorax, begin behind the wings, creating a clear separation between the abdomen and the thorax. Take a few dubbed, cross wraps between the two wings. This will help begin to angle the wings slightly backward while hiding the thread wraps you used to secure each feather. Continue your dubbing up to just behind the hook eye. Create a small head with your thread, whip finish, and disconnect. Put a bit of cement on the thread wraps and get these in your fly box.