Dark Hendrickson

mike_richardson

mike_richardson

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I don't tie dries that much or fish them for that matter but am tired of not tying them. I set my mind to it this weekend and whiped up some hendricksons. Let me know your thoughts on this fly. I think it looks pretty decent for the first couple dries in about 2 years.

Don't mind my plaid comfy pants :-o
 

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Pretty nice, although it looks like you made the body gray.
Male hendricksons - which I assume you're referring to by DARK - have a rusty red colored body.
 
http://www.orvis.com/store/product.aspx?pf_id=0341

There is a recipe tab. I used dark grey superfine dubbing.

I will be tying the red quill version of this as well. Might be what you were referring to.
 
OK - I thought dark hendrickson referred to the male, and light hendrickson referred to the female, which has a pinkish colored body
 
I went with the white wing flank instead of yellow, as well
 
dryflyguy wrote:
Pretty nice, although it looks like you made the body gray.
Male hendricksons - which I assume you're referring to by DARK - have a rusty red colored body.

You not getting senile DFG...you are correct.

The dark hendrickson is pattern that has been tied for many years, and I've never really understood why it is gray. It may work, like many other fly patterns, the exact color is seldom important.

The male hendrickson is ususally a brown/red brown color, while the female has a tan/sometimes pinkish body. A red quill (reddish brown quill tied in for the body) is a good imitation of the male. Most female versions use a dubbed tannish/pinkish body.

One other thing, hendricksons hatch from their shuck right on top of the water, therefore low floating patterns like comparaduns and parachutes work well, especially patterns that incorporate a trailing shuck. Also emerger patterns that sit in the film are often killer.

A Catskill tie that sits high on the water would be my last choice as a style of fly to use during a hendrickson hatch.
 
afishinado wrote:
dryflyguy wrote:
Pretty nice, although it looks like you made the body gray.
Male hendricksons - which I assume you're referring to by DARK - have a rusty red colored body.

You not getting senile DFG...you are correct.

The dark hendrickson is pattern that has been tied for many years, and I've never really understood why it is gray. It may work, like many other fly patterns, the exact color is seldom important.

The male hendrickson is ususally a brown/red brown color, while the female has a tan/sometimes pinkish body. A red quill (reddish brown quill tied in for the body) is a good imitation of the male. Most female versions use a dubbed tannish/pinkish body.

One other thing, hendricksons hatch from their shuck right on top of the water, therefore low floating patterns like comparaduns and parachutes work well, especially patterns that incorporate a trailing shuck. Also emerger patterns that sit in the film are often killer.

A Catskill tie that sits high on the water would be my last choice as a style of fly to use during a hendrickson hatch.

Excellent post.

Would you suggest a Catskill style for something like a QG which emerges on the stream bed and swims to the surfaces as a dun already?
 
Learn something everyday. thanks for the insight.
 
afishinado wrote:
The dark hendrickson is pattern that has been tied for many years, and I've never really understood why it is gray. It may work, like many other fly patterns, the exact color is seldom important.

Without knowing the real answer, I can still guess.

You go back far enough, it was tied on maroon or crimson thread. The proper amount of hare dubbing, especially as it gets wet, will turn that the colour you've specified.

Now, people just use too much dubbing and default to black thread because they're stupid.

While I don't have written proof, I suspect very few flies in antiquity were tied exclusively on black thread (silk), as black has always been the weakest colour due to the fact that makers used black dye to cover imperfections.

 
Hendricksons I've seen in PA are a dark reddish brown or a pinkish yellow. Ones male and ones female. The red quill is the spinner for both. Usually # 14 or #12, depends on the stream. You use a quill body not fur.
 
I strayed from the Catskill patterns for the Hendricksons and Quill Gordons in the early 70's. Not to underestimate their fish catching abilities, but they just didn't look like the real thing to me. So I bought a gray/dun hen neck and substitued cut wings and later used wing burners when they became available. I also used Mink tail guard hairs for the tail. The next step up was split tails. My hackle splays more than the Catskill tie, and is generally smaller (hook gap to hackle size). I still tie them the same way, but I use microfibetts for the tail. They float flush with the water.
 
gfen wrote:
afishinado wrote:
The dark hendrickson is pattern that has been tied for many years, and I've never really understood why it is gray. It may work, like many other fly patterns, the exact color is seldom important.

Without knowing the real answer, I can still guess.

You go back far enough, it was tied on maroon or crimson thread. The proper amount of hare dubbing, especially as it gets wet, will turn that the colour you've specified.

Now, people just use too much dubbing and default to black thread because they're stupid.

While I don't have written proof, I suspect very few flies in antiquity were tied exclusively on black thread (silk), as black has always been the weakest colour due to the fact that makers used black dye to cover imperfections.

Great theory. I would guess your guess is likely correct.
 
That's kinda like the way that tradition hendrickson patterns are tied with brown wood duck or mallard flank wing materiel. But their wings are slate gray. And theses imitations work. I guess winding all of that dun hackle gives the appearance of gray wings to the fish from below. Or they just don't care much about the wing color.

FWIW - I use gray turkey flat for my hendrickson wings
 
Your proportions are quite good. Most modern fly fishers think of a Ep subvaria in the male or female sense and the fly patterns as Hendrickson or Red Quill. I believe the terms Dark Hendrickson & Light Hendrickson are somewhat archaic and not in general usage very much any longer. At least not with the fly fishers I know.

Ask fifty guys who tie to show you their rendition of these flies and you'll probably get fifty variations of the general theme.

Here is how I tie a Hendrickson & a Red Quill;

 

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Thanks wbranch.

Is the cdc and compardun variety to hit on what afish had said about how these flies actually hatch?
 
Mike,

Are you referring to this post;

"You not getting senile DFG...you are correct.

The dark hendrickson is pattern that has been tied for many years, and I've never really understood why it is gray. It may work, like many other fly patterns, the exact color is seldom important.

The male hendrickson is ususally a brown/red brown color, while the female has a tan/sometimes pinkish body. A red quill (reddish brown quill tied in for the body) is a good imitation of the male. Most female versions use a dubbed tannish/pinkish body.

One other thing, hendricksons hatch from their shuck right on top of the water, therefore low floating patterns like comparaduns and parachutes work well, especially patterns that incorporate a trailing shuck. Also emerger patterns that sit in the film are often killer.

A Catskill tie that sits high on the water would be my last choice as a style of fly to use during a hendrickson hatch."

I tend to agree with these comments. Particularly this comment "A Catskill tie that sits high on the water would be my last choice as a style of fly to use during a hendrickson hatch."

Now when I was a kid and didn't know any better I used to use a divided woodduck wing and fully hackled versions for this emergence but as I got older, and wiser, relative to keeping my eyes open while fishing I realized that the tradional Catskill sytle flies were lacking in many ways.

Now there are likely fifty guys on this forum that will call me a heretic for poo-pooing fully hackled Catskill style patterns. All I can say to that is "whatever". I like flush floating, realisticly sized, and colored, imitations of the emerging flies. I used to tie my dry flies with split spade, or microfibbet, tails but I no longer do this on most of my flies. I still do it on all my Tricos and most of my spinners but other than they look really pretty I'm pretty sure the trout don't give a hoot.

I have caught a ton of 18" and over trout since I stopped splitting my tails and none of those trout ignored my trailing shuck/woodduck fiber tails. Remember that while replication of the emerging pattern is quite important nothing is going to replace proper presentation and a drag free float.

If you don't feel confident with the floatation attributes of a compara-dun you could tie a similar wing profile but add a turn, or two, of a medium to dark dun hackle and clip the bottom hackles.

BTW if you catch a sub imago mayfly you will see that the eyes are usually very prominent. Maybe we can consider those colorful eyes as "hot spots". I try and use the same color thread as the eye color of the dun.


 

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Great insight. Thanks!
 
wbranch those are some very fine subvarias. Wings in particular.
 
Your fly looks good. Don't make it harder than it has to be though. I have one thorax tie in a 14 & 16. It covers me on female hendrickson and blue quills. A rusty/brown thorax dry in a 16 to cover the male hendrickson. Carry a pile of CDC emergers. Most of those can match a caddis and / or a mayfly hatch. The only other must have in the box is rusty spinners in 12 - 20. Those 4 patterns will get you through most of your spring fishing. When in doubt, error on making the body too thin and not too fat.

looking a wbranch's fly tying desk, he's tied more flies today than I've tied in the last 5 years.
 
Krayfish wrote;

"looking a wbranch's fly tying desk, he's tied more flies today than I've tied in the last 5 years."

Yes, when one is retired and has little to do besides fish and tie flies, and think about fishing, it's pretty easy to let it get out of hand. I've tied well over 400 flies since mid January. I recently gave a newbie 150 dries, nymphs, steelhead flies, etc that were either brand new of "gently used" so I'd have an excuse to tie more.
 
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