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Early Brown Stonefly Hatch
Strophopteryx fasciata

Early Brown Stonefly hatch is one of the earliest hatches where you might get a chance to fish for rising trout on a freestone stream in NorthWest Wisconsin. The hatch occurs from mid-March into mid-April depending on the temperatures, Winter snow amounts and the stream location. Before the Wisconsin DNR started the early season catch & release we never got a chance to experience this wonderful early season stonefly hatch.

The small little stonefly nymphs crawl out of the water along the shoreline and hatch sporatically during the daylight. Especially in midday and early afternoon, but it depends on the seasonal weather. The stoneflies come back on the water to lay their eggs and flutter and skate across the surface. This makes for a great opportunity for some dry fly action to rising trout.

Early Brown Stonefly Patterns

When the stoneflies are not fluttering on the water I use a small stonefly nymph pattern (see below) along with a strike indicator. My preferred pattern when the stoneflies are on the water is a size #12 Mustad 94840 dry fly hook, with a CDC body, a teal flank feather for the wing (tied flat) and sparsely tied grizzly hackle. These stoneflies are often fluttering on the water and the CDC helps imitate that movement.