Hendrickson Hatch

[mcwillja]

I came across a pic of this Hendrickson emerger I tied last season and got me thinking about one of the first dependable hatches of the season. Is anyone else looking forward to this hatch. If you have any good pics of henneys lets see em.

 

[dryflyguy]

Interesting pattern. Is that a red bead head - or did you tie it with red thread, and make a head out of that?.
Anyway - looks pretty nice.

I also love the hendricksons - and take a week vacation in april every year just to (hopefully) fish it. Especially on the delaware river.
It can be pretty tough to time though, Unpredictable weather at that time of year can cause wide swings in emergence times.
Last year, I was fishing them in march. But I also remember some years when they didn't hatch until late april/ early may.
But if you do hit it right, it's some fantastic fishing for sure

 

[mcwillja]

Thank you DryFly. The head is red or orange thread. I also fish the henneys on the D and one thing I always notice are the red heads on some of the hendricksons. Especially the red quills. I tie my comparduns with the same red or orange thread. I really believe it makes a difference when the fish seem to prefer the red/orange eyes. I don't have any scientific evidence just a lot of time on the water figuring things out.

This pattern is specifically tied for the del/beaverkill. It has been a very good pattern. I read somewhere to use blue ribbing for the abdomen and so I tie all my emergers with blue sulky thread.

 

[mcwillja]

Here are a few more.

 

[Maurice]

Here are a few pics (although not patterns unless you look at the one in the corner of the fatty).

This fish rose about 25 times before he finally took my fly. Was across the water 50 ft with many currents between. It shocked the heck out of him when I put the steel to him. Two cartwheeling jumps later I had it in my hand.

Not many fish rising to them though despite the flotilla.

 

[mcwillja]

Great fish Maurice. That's what it is all about right there.

 

[mcwillja]

This is a pic of my friends first 20+ inch fish taken on a fly and it was taken on a bitterly cold and windy day. The fish was caught on a hendrickson comparadun. I was so happy to be there for that and it was quite a reward for such a cold day.

 

[Chaz]

YEs I look forward to Hendricksons. And the spinnerfalls.

 

[dc410]

Whew!! When I saw the title of this thread I had this terrible thought that it was already happening.

 

[mcwillja]

if it was last year it was

 

[wbranch]

Mcwillja,

Is the wing of your Hendrickson dyed snowshoe rabbit? Nice twist on a very popular mayfly. I like it because it is surely different than many of the flies that are tied to closely resemble the appearance of the duns. Give them something a little different, yet still representative of the emerging life cycle, and you might have a killing pattern.

 

[mike_richardson]

Great insite. When can you expect the larger versions of this hatch. I know in potter count around the first day 2nd weekend in april a few com off the first fork in the evening. Tan caddis and march brown were coming off last year but it was a lot warmer.

 

[sandfly]

after looking at maurices penns creek pic i came up with this;

 

[sandfly]

version 2

 

[mcwillja]

Nice ties Sandfly. I love the thin body yet "buggy" look. That's my entire style of dry flies that I tie.

 

[mcwillja]

wbranch wrote:
Mcwillja,

Is the wing of your Hendrickson dyed snowshoe rabbit? Nice twist on a very popular mayfly. I like it because it is surely different than many of the flies that are tied to closely resemble the appearance of the duns. Give them something a little different, yet still representative of the emerging life cycle, and you might have a killing pattern.

Yes it is dyed dark dun. This is my not so secret anymore pattern for the BK/Delaware. I believe the red head/eyes and blue rib make this pattern stand out among the million other patterns. I split the wing with a biot to make a batwing style emerger. It has also proven effective in CNY's Oatka creek which can have very selective feeding trout.