For the dry, I've gone through many iterations, fooling myself more than I fooled trout. march browns are remarkably humm-drumm underneath. Being that they are so closely related to Grey Foxes, or even ARE the same critter, they are a creamy yellow bug underneath where it counts. They aren't darkly ribbed either, although that looks good and fish don't refuse it from what I've seen. I LOVE deer hair extended flies, but it is darn near impossible to get deer hair of the right creamy yellow color. As much as I wanted a super duper awesome fly, I found that the K.I.S.S. method rules. Just use a sz. 12, 2XL dry fly hook, commonly available. Use a sz. 10 2XL if you think you'll need to mimic the biggest of the March Browns: the Del, Penns, Pine Creek and the like. If you want a bulkier bug with the brown top, you can pull a pheasant tail or turkey tail over the top. That looks great. Performance wise, if you want a better WORKING and looking fly, do what Scott Sanchez does. Put a strip of brown or tan Razor Foam (or use a light color and color it with a brown PenTone marker) over the back of a Comparadun. March Browns are stout bugs. I don't have any trouble dubbing that big of a body, and it's not THAT much bigger than usual, but if you let that foam extend about 1/2 way around the body of the fly, you will get a significantly thicker profile. I don't do it. It doesn't matter to the fish. The sexiest I make those flies is pale yellow ribbing and some wood duck flank in the front of the comparadun deer hair wing.
Syl
