Codorus 4-18-07

[flyman]

Took off work early, hoped for Hendricksons or Quill Gordons in the afternoon. Only saw one lone dun, water was clear but high the pools even had riffles. Air temp was low fifties, cloudy, and breezy.
Caught two, 1 on black bugger, 1 on hares ear, missed 3 on the swing with the hares ear. Fish were splashing near the surface,I guess taking the few emergers there were.
Hey JP, six years ago I hit it right when the Hendricksons, err Quill Gordons hatched and I look for them every spring since, this is the closest I've gotten again. Meck's book, Pa. Trout Streams And Their Hatches, point toward Hendricksons. The color plates in Al Caucci's book Hatches have led me to believe there could be some Quills also. I am no entomologist, I'm just glad they are there and hope it gets better.
Flyman :-D

 

[jpavoncello]

Flyman

I'll be hitting the Codorus Friday morning. I'll let you know if I see anything hatching.
Did you get a water temp by chance?
JP

 

[martinlf]

Years ago I had some amazing days with Hendricksons on Codorus, then learned that something, possibly a spill, had wiped most of them out. I've heard rumors that they are coming back, especially in the upstream areas. Are they true? Where have folks seen the early mayflies?

 

[afishinado]

Flyman,

Quill Gordons have 2 tails and are a hook size larger than Hendricksons with 3 tails. QG are usually a grayish olive color with distiinct dark segmentation. The number of tails and the bigger size is the easiest way to tell them apart. Good luck fishing - the weather is looking good for this weekend!

 

[lestrout]

Flyman - cool to hear the QG/Hendrickson report.

In addition to the 2 vs 3 tail identifier by afishinado, understand that the male Hendrickson is a Red Quill, slightly smaller than the creamy pink female.

On an un-named but nearby stream where I have suspected Hendricksons, this year, even in the nasty weather, I have been on the hunt for these buggies. In the past I have run into spinner falls with success (Rusty S/Red Quill), but never had a dun from there in hand. With the early SE PA opener plus the cold weather, I figured this was the year to figure this out.

My ffishing bud was wading a riffle above my pool (E. Subvaria emerge in riffles) and he reported seeing a couple possible Hendricksons, then one landed conveniently on his vest. I had him box it till we got together later - it was 2 tailed and a magnificent Quill Gordon. This is the first indication of any sort that this watershed even had them! I put it on a tree branch tenderly to go off and make some more little ones.

So what does this have to do with ffishing? Well, QG's are spectacular but rarely bring the trouts up. The reason is that they are one of the few mayflies to emerge underwater. So the way to catch trout during the QG emergence is to use a wet fly. Even the old reliables like Quigley Cripples and Klinkhammers won't do much for a QG hatch.

One other little factoid that may help you: the classic QG wet fly is a mindless, unpurposed derivative of the dry, and it doesn't work very well for the QG hatch.

I leave the rest to you to figure out - this is several more hints than I usually like to post. I'm no hot-spotter.

tl
les

 

[Wulff-Man]

lestrout wrote:
One other little factoid that may help you: the classic QG wet fly is a mindless, unpurposed derivative of the dry, and it doesn't work very well for the QG hatch.

I leave the rest to you to figure out.......

lestrout, do you like lasagna? :-D

 

[flyman]

Hey all ,
'ppreciate all the input. Did some research and discovered the 2 vs 3 tail thing. Also didn't realize water temp. was such an important factor. Q Gordon hatch between 40 and 50 degrees, Hendricksons above 50 around 55. Got to get a thermometer. Might have to wait until next year or the next to ID the fly. I'll be out Sat 4/21 hoping for flies.

The dun I caught was brown on top of the abdomen and tan on the bottom. Not reddish or pink at all. Very prominant gray wings.

Hey JP howd you make out?

Les, what you said about QG hatches might explain why I was getting so many hits on the swing. They were hitting it(hares ear) on the rise from the bottom.
🙂
Later
Flyman

 

[fritz]

There used to be a good Hendickson hatch on the Codorus. I haven't seen them for years--a few here and there but I don't get to that creek as much as I used too either. 55F was the magic number for that hatch.

 

[jpavoncello]

Hit the Codorus this morning with my son, Tony. He's a fledgling fly fisherman and we went out to work on casting and line control.
The water is in better shape, about normal level and just slightly stained.
There was a good midge hatch coming off and a very few BWO's but that's it. No surface activity from the trout at all. Matter of fact, not much activity from the trout period.
The highlight of the day was when Tony caught his very first fish on a fly rod. He was drifting a Hairs Ear and went to cast and hooked a fish. Turned out to be a nice 14" brown.

 

[flyman]

Bravo! Nice fish, I think I recognize it, turned up it's nose at my presentation! :lol:
Flyman