March 2025 Special Feature

Peepers, Skunk Cabbage, and Early Black Stoneflies

By Pat Crisci

Bamboo Al and Dave wave to me from upstream to join them.  On the bank, remnants of sooty snow are trickling into the icy green flow against a great rock outcrop.  “Anything happening,” I ask, although at this hour on an April day I know it’s unlikely that trout are looking up.

Around one in the afternoon a few black specks are flitting across patchy snow. “Stoneflies,” says Bamboo Al, pointing to a riffle in midstream.  Then, a shadowy shape, a sudden swirl behind Dave’s skittering black stonefly imitation, and he laughs out loud.   

I rig up and walk along the brushy banks. The brown and gray shrubs are leafless, bent, and beaten but hold on rooted. The afternoon the sun on my face is a familiar reminder of seasons past and of a new season. 

“Foolish,” I say to myself. “To think a trout might take a dry is hopeless folly.”  But I tie one anyway to my tippet. I ease into the flow of a favorite reach on Brecht’s Brook.  Too impatient to take the water temperature, instead, I watch the water.  

My old eyes playing tricks? Or did the little black stonefly disappear in the wink of a dimple?

Who doesn't love the first signs of spring? Peepers, skunk cabbage, and black stoneflies.

Here’s a simple black stonefly pattern that doubles nicely as an early spring black caddis. 

Hook - long shank dry fly #16

Body - black fur dubbing

Rib - black or grizzly dun palmered hackle

Wing - dark brown or gray deer hair

Sighter (Optional) - tuft of bright yellow antron or other nylon floating yarn