Dark Hendrickson Wet

[afishinado]

I tied and fished this wet fly all the time back-in-the-day and always caught trout early in the season with a dark hendrickson. This is the "Adams" of wet flies. It's easy to tie with common materials and catches fish. I don't know why I rarely tie or fish this fly, but I plan to use this wet more this season.

The sister wet fly to this (in my mind anyway) is the light cahill wet. It has a cream body and tan hackle, and is tied the same as the dark hendrickson shown in the video. The Cahill works best later in the season when the lighter flies like sulphurs or cahills hatch.

You really can't fish either one wrong. You can dead-drift like a nymph swing or strip in to catch fish. Give both flies a try this spring and I guarantee you will be rewarded with a [d]full creel[/d]....uh, plenty of released trout.

 

[Baron]

Nice Gill killer. I’ve been looking at some soft hackle flies to make for early season panfish and I think this fits the bill. Thanks

 

[redietz]

I caught several trout on Dark Hendrickson wet just yesterday. Among other things, it's a good Little Brown Stonefly imitation.

It will stay on as my top dropper for at least another month.

I also think that it and the Light Cahill are sisters.

 

[Baron]

AFish, There is a certain pecking order in nature and in fly-tyers as well. I like this fly but lets face it, I'm a panfisherman. I'm going to toss this at the weedy banks in shallow water for pre-spawn panfish that are tearing around all over. I'll lose a half dozen a day in that environment.
Back to the pecking order thing. Do I really want to be responsible for the death of some innocent muskrat just so I can catch sunnies? So I'll use Antron and switch up the colors a bit just to fool them. Today was a test run and my old nemesis 'Mr. Proportion' showed up to spoil things here and there. furthermore I currently only have shorter shank sz12 baitholder hooks so the taper in the thorax is barely visible. Here is the result:

 

[troutbert]

Baron, I think your fly looks very good.

It would do well for either panfish or trout.

 

[Baron]

Thanks as I hope to tie up a bunch and try them next week but first I want to get the right hook. Proportions are hard to learn. I'll measure it off using my fingers, as Tom does so often in his videos, and presto I do something fatal like switch hands or something. And then it is out of whack. It is a rewarding tie in that is looks difficult but is really easy to memorize and very straightforward.

troutbert wrote:


Baron, I think your fly looks very good.

It would do well for either panfish or trout.

 

[Dave_W]

troutbert wrote:
Baron, I think your fly looks very good.

It would do well for either panfish or trout.

Agree

 

[troutbert]

Baron wrote:
Thanks as I hope to tie up a bunch and try them next week but first I want to get the right hook. Proportions are hard to learn. I'll measure it off using my fingers, as Tom does so often in his videos, and presto I do something fatal like switch hands or something. And then it is out of whack. It is a rewarding tie in that is looks difficult but is really easy to memorize and very straightforward.

troutbert wrote:


Baron, I think your fly looks very good.

It would do well for either panfish or trout.

I like your fly much better than the one in the photo in the original post.

It has that buggy look that fish like, and the long soft wet fly hackle will create movement.

Maybe you should call your pattern The Baron.

 

[Baron]

Thanks all for the helpful comments. I find Soft Hackle flies to be a easy to look at and relatively effective. Adding a wing makes then even more interesting and even with that they remain simple to tie. I like its name as is. I hear various forms are used on the Lehigh near me.

troutbert wrote:

Baron wrote:
Thanks as I hope to tie up a bunch and try them next week but first I want to get the right hook. Proportions are hard to learn. I'll measure it off using my fingers, as Tom does so often in his videos, and presto I do something fatal like switch hands or something. And then it is out of whack. It is a rewarding tie in that is looks difficult but is really easy to memorize and very straightforward.

troutbert wrote:


Baron, I think your fly looks very good.

It would do well for either panfish or trout.

I like your fly much better than the one in the photo in the original post.

It has that buggy look that fish like, and the long soft wet fly hackle will create movement.

Maybe you should call your pattern The Baron.

 

[shakey]

I like to think of the dark Hendrickson as a sister fly to a dark Cahill , with a light Cahill right in there too.

A fun thing to do is to fish a dark Cahill and a dark Hendrickson at the same time , and see if there is any difference in catch rate.

 

[redietz]

shakey wrote:
A fun thing to do is to fish a dark Cahill and a dark Hendrickson at the same time , and see if there is any difference in catch rate.

You'd have to take the results with a grain of salt, though. All things being equal, the fly on point is going to catch more fish than the top dropper. Try fishing two of the same fly at the same time and you'll see what I mean.

 

[Baron]

Being around trout fishermen stretches my understanding of what fish eat and when. I'm after WW species but basically the same feeding chart is in place. After reading about this fly and the Cahills I understand why they lose their proficiency to others as June arrives. While almost all flies are interesting it is gratifying to tie and to catch fish on these pieces of history.

 

[shakey]

redietz wrote:

shakey wrote:
A fun thing to do is to fish a dark Cahill and a dark Hendrickson at the same time , and see if there is any difference in catch rate.

You'd have to take the results with a grain of salt, though. All things being equal, the fly on point is going to catch more fish than the top dropper. Try fishing two of the same fly at the same time and you'll see what I mean.

Yes,I often fish three of the same fly .

 

[dc410]

The only time I ever fish three flies at one time is when I’m fishing wet flies. I love that kind of fishing and it is just around the corner! The slight increase in water temperature, the bugs starting to emerge and the trout setting up and looking up into the water column. Bring it on!

 

[troutbert]

Baron wrote:

After reading about this fly and the Cahills I understand why they lose their proficiency to others as June arrives.

The Light Cahill is a good pattern in June and right through the summer.

 

[Baron]

Maybe for Trout but for Panfish in a lake what I meant is things like ants, wooly worms, bully spiders, small hoppers and others slowly become more productive in warmer water.

 

[redietz]

shakey wrote:

Yes,I often fish three of the same fly .

I'll bet your catch ratio is close to 60/30/10 for point/top dropper/middle dropper.

 

[Baron]

There are times early season that large numbers of bait are moving around me on the lake. I cast over and strip back to pick up actively feeding panfish. I've thought of using three of the same flies in these situations.
-Putting this together would you go off 8" tags or would you tie in on the bend of the hook?
-How far apart?

 

[redietz]

I tie on tags (In the winter I use tippet rings to avoid extra knot tying in cold weather.) About two feet apart is about right.

Obligatory PSA for those who fish in Maryland: Maryland only allows two flies per a rod.

 

[Baron]

I like tippet rings and Micro swivels. Two feet apart, Thanks.
I prefer flies that are relatively slow sinking...almost neutral buoyancy for Panfish in early season. I think this fly will be a perfect candidate in shallower waters up to 4'or so.