As you look at this pattern the bottom color is the most important part. It is lighter than the fly's body color on top. This pattern is simply tied the color amber yellow making the bottom just like the real life mayfly. Attracting orange foam egg with the abdomen and thorax tied to shape and size, three microfibett tails.

The first of the larger mayflies are about to arrive soon. The Hendrickson's are all about temperature and they can show up weeks early or late with the upcoming weather playing the biggest part. One thing about them is when they arrive anything can happen with the big event usually occurring during the warmer part of the day being sometimes late morning or early afternoon and spinner falls into sunset. The female duns are a bit larger than the males and somewhat thicker in body. They are more or less a dull golden grayish color with medium to dark dun wings and have small eyes. The thinner male's body color is a medium reddish brown with medium to dark dun color wings. Their eyes are large and rusty orange to tomato red in color.

Their emergence is slow to fast all depending upon the water and air temperature. I have written about fresh emerged mayflies and on a cooler day these mayflies will fit this category emerging from the water and after a short flutter float on the surface for a distance being vulnerable before flying off to shuck out and turn into spinners. The dun part of this mayfly is most important during this cooler of the day's situation. On warmer days they emerge and are gone and usually are not a big factor as a fly selection. Notice I said usually. I will get back to the spinner part later but what I want to talk about next is the nymph and emerger stage.

Right now Hendrickson or Ephemerella nymphs are becoming active and subject to becoming part of the flows especially with the high fast waters of springtime. I have had great luck these past days as I always do around this time of year with my TD Brown Flash pattern that imitates these nymphs extremely well. Right now I fish them dead drift as though they were pulled away from their anchor spots attempting to grab hold again. When I see the hatch arrive I will begin to fish them on the swing imitating the swimming emerging Hendrickson nymphs. This nymph is extremely deadly swung from below up into actively rising trout during an active Hendrickson emergence. This also holds true with any open water mayfly emergence. At this time there are also other patterns that are extremely deadly and it usually comes down to some of my emerger patterns. There is nothing that the trout key into better than what appears to be a stalled emerging nymph in the surface film. Attached photo is my TD CDC Brown Emerger that will be put to good use soon.

Back to the spinners, as the afternoon fades the male and female Hendrickson spinners will arrive. The males at this stage will now have darker and longer tails ant their bodies will have changed to dark red to mahogany red and still have the big tomato red eyes. The wings will be transparent and no longer dun in color. The females will be lighter in the body but still a golden yellow and will have a visible bright yellow egg ball at the base of the tail. Their wings will also be transparent with a hint of brown and also be no longer dun in color. At spinner time the males will fall first followed by the females. Sometimes they want the males and sometimes the females. My egg ball TD Female Hendrickson Spinner pattern is a great pattern at this time and I usually will go with it right from the start because of the bright yellow fish attracting egg ball. At the spinner time usually temperature is a factor here and sometimes there can be an enormous rise of fish or just the opposite. You just never know but it is good to be ready for anything.

The Hendrickson hatch can be one of the most confusing of all the mayfly hatches or I should say one of the most challenging. I would have to say this is a factor because of the early spring time temperatures along with the cold water temperatures. As for the trout their metabolism is slow at this time and they just don't eat as much. A great thing about this is when the water does get warmer up to those forty degree temperatures, all heck breaks loose and it's a whole new world for us. Another factor about the Hendrickson hatch is other food sources that may just be easier to eat like so many other insects I just previously wrote about. We have the scuds and midge larvae that may be abundant in the flows and during these times the Hendrickson action can be passed up or ignored. Some other situations can also be the dreaded tiny fly midge hatches that can consist of pupa and emerging adults. Blue Wing Olives and the arriving little Blue Quills can also throw a wrench into the mix.

This early season stuff although not cut and dry can be looked at with frustration but I would suggest we look at it like I said a challenge. By doing this and when everything comes together, it can be as we all know a life time rewarding experience only a fly fisherman can know.

Attached photo is my TD CDC Brown Emerger

Hook - TMC 2488, Size 12

Thread - Uni 8/0 Camel

Tail - Brown Dyed Pheasant, Wood Duck or Mallard Flank

Abdomen - Brown Superfine Dubbing Wrapped Over Monofilament (See Note Below)

Abdomen Rib - Black Uni 6/0 Thread

CDC - Light Dun

Legs - Brown Dyed Wood Duck or Mallard Flank

Thorax - Brown Superfine Dubbing

Head - Uni 8/0 Rust Brown or Brown

Note: At the start of this fly tie in two abdomen area pieces of 20 pound monofilament parallel to the hook shank secured with super glue to give the emerger a natural fat and flat profile like the natural. Refer back to my article Nymphs – Starting The Pattern for detailed information and photo.

Tom Deane

Hook - Mustad 94833,Size 12

Thread - Uni 8/0 Rust Brown

Tail - Two Black or Dark Brown Microfibbets 1 and 1/4 Body Length

Abdomen - Stalcup Micro Fine Rusty Brown Dubbing

Abdomen Rib - Uni 8/0 Tan Thread

Wings - 75% White Organza mixed with 25% Tan Organza

Thorax - Micro Fine Rusty Brown

Head - Uni 8/0 Rust Brown Thread

Now back in the day this one really confused me and as you can see the difference from the female. The male is smaller than the female and much darker and the biggest factor his big red eyes. I most often fish my female pattern but there are times that the fish go against the grain and do like to eat the males. My best guess the big red eyes being a fish attracting factor. When I tie them up I always finish at the head with numerous wraps of 8/0 Uni Rusty Brown thread which works very well depicting the eye color.

Hook - Mustad 94833 Size 12

Thread - Gordon Griffiths 14/0 Cinnamon, Uni 8/0 Camel

Tail - 3 to 4 Natural Wood Duck Flank Tips Tied half of the Body Length

Egg Ball - Bright Yellow Foam

Abdomen - Superfine Amber Dubbing

Abdomen Rib - Hareline D-Rib, Half Round Rib Small Golden Stone Color

Wing - 75% White Organza with 25% White Organza Dyed Dark with Rit Tan

Thorax - Superfine March Brown Dubbing

Note - In the photo you are looking at a dry fly showing lighter color but when wet is an extremely close match to the real mayfly. This pattern is a "pick off" pattern that can be accurately thrown with great success to the biggest rising fish before and during the Hendrickson spinner falls.

"Seen any Hendricksons" I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard this question. In early spring this mayfly is by far one of the most popular of all, as every dry fly fisherman awaits its arrival. Late April into May is the time for them. Genus: Ephemerella and as I wrote earlier about the nymphs they evolve from being so important in early spring, big fat and flat seen and eagerly eaten by the trout as they start to break free from the winter. Some times I attempt to answer the question mentioning Hendrickson nymphs, I get the answer "I don't fish nymphs" like they were the scorn of the earth. I just laugh to myself and feel sorry for the guy and think if he only knew. For the folks who are interested, I usually loose a couple flies and find a new friend who usually has something new to teach me in return. The attached and following photos were captured at the Cohocton River and others I have caught varied in some degree in size and color. All in all they are basically the same though and it helps to get a look at the ones in your area.

Note: In my photo the Hendrickson mayfly is missing a tail and should have three.

Here's my newer model Hendrickson Male Dun imitation. In nature there are little things that stand out and these things are what I have often written about as being "key into" fish attractors. On this mayfly it's obviously the big red eyes that I tie in unnatural bright red instead of rust brown. It's been a great fly!

As the early season comes upon us, we all start to think about the first hatches.  If you are anything like me, you have waited so long for the early season that you begin to get nervous that perhaps you may miss one of them. One of the ways I keep track of hatches and the times in which these flies hatch is to associate these hatches with things going on the your yard, such as flower blooms etc.

One of the first plants to pop up in the spring is the Tiger Lily.  Next after that is the daffodil. The Daffodil flower bloom associates itself with the Quill Gordon. 

The Quill is probably the first main hatch of the year, but is very unpredictable.  I have rarely fished a full fledged Quill Gordon Hatch.  But the importance of this hatch is the fact that if you see fish rising in April in Central NY, usually a quill gordon fly will work to get them on the line.

Later in the season the tulips will begin to pop up.  This is usually about the time you mow your lawn for the second time of the year.  Now this is a hatch you can count on.  All mayfly hatches follow this trend no matter where you live in the North East USA.  Early mayflies are large, about size 10-12, and are dark to absorb the suns light in the middle of the day.  Hence these flies hatch about 2:00 in the afternoon.  No need to get up early for these hatches.

Tom Deane wrote a great article about the Hendrickson Hatch and the link to this blog is listed here.  Link to Hendrickson Hatch.

 So far in Utica NY, the Tulips are above ground, but have not bloomed yet.  So you have not missed anything so far.

The reason I am writing this blog entry is because many people read our blogs from all over the world, and all over the North East.  The trends listed below will be timed different for people in the southern NY area as compared to people in the Adirondacks and in Maine.  However the sequence will always be the same.  Quill Gordons will never hatch before hendricksons.  I will try to expand on this more in the next few days.