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Hendrickson Dun
A dry fly, tied #12–14, a spring pattern. It is tied against 1 named insect in this book — April–May.
A precise dun imitation for Ephemerella subvaria, tied when a general pattern is getting refused. It goes on a standard dry-fly hook in sizes 12–14 with tan 8/0 thread: medium dun hackle fibres for the tail, a body of pinkish-tan Hendrickson dubbing, wood-duck flank wings set upright and divided, and medium dun hackle. The pink-grey body and the wood-duck wing are what separate it from a generic mayfly dry, and they matter on April afternoons when the hatch is on and fish are keyed to the natural. The insect emerges April into May in water of 45 to 58 degrees, and the fly is fished on the hatch itself rather than as a prospecting dry. If duns are riding the surface and being refused, a trailing-shuck emerger dropped eighteen inches behind will often account for what the fish are actually taking. Trout are the target species, and it is carried through spring.
- #12–14Hook size
- dry flyType
- SpringSeason
- 1Hatch matched
What it looks like
A drawing, not a photograph, and not traced from one. Its proportions were read off 5 independent reference photographs of the pattern and written down as 5 measured characteristics — wing angle, tail length against the shank, how far a hackle fibre reaches — every one of which had to hold across more than one of them before it could be drawn. What survives across many photographs of a fly is the fly.
What it imitates
Each of these is the same hatch record the app's own panel reads, so a pattern recommended on a river card in the app is recommended for one of the insects below.
Tying recipe
In tying order. This dressing is the standard one — these patterns have been in the publicrecord for decades — and materials substitute freely: the proportions and the silhouette are the pattern, not the brand of dubbing.
| Hook | Standard dry-fly hook, sizes 12–14 |
|---|---|
| Thread | Tan 8/0 |
| Tail | Medium dun hackle fibres |
| Body | Pinkish-tan Hendrickson dubbing |
| Wings | Wood-duck flank, upright and divided |
| Hackle | Medium dun |
When to fish it
April afternoons, on the hatch itself. If duns are riding and being refused, drop a trailing-shuck emerger eighteen inches behind it.
A spring pattern. The insects it matches are active april–may, in water from 45°F to 58°F.
Target species
- Trout
Rivers it fishes well
Rivers with a page here that sit in the regions where the insects this pattern imitates are recorded. It is a claim about coverage, not a report of a fish caught.
- Au Sable River northern lower Michigan · July mean 72.1°F
- Catawba River the North Carolina mountains · July mean 76.7°F
- Jackson River the Virginia mountains · July mean 66.3°F
- Muskegon River northern lower Michigan · July mean 71.0°F
- Escanaba River the Upper Peninsula · July mean 68.3°F
- Saint Croix River northern Wisconsin · July mean 77.2°F
- Smith River the Virginia mountains · July mean 51.9°F
- Tygart Valley River the Virginia mountains · July mean 74.6°F
- Kalamazoo River southern lower Michigan · July mean 71.3°F
- Aaron Creek the North Carolina mountains · July mean 76.7°F
- Aaron Run the Virginia mountains · July mean 77.1°F
- Aarons Run the Virginia mountains · July mean 74.2°F
Related patterns
Same type of fly, or tied for the same insects.
- Parachute Adams dry fly · #12–20 — Universal mayfly dun imitation. Every angler carries these.
- Red Quill Spinner dry fly · #12–16 — The Hendrickson male, and the evening fall after the hatch.
- Adams (Catskill) dry fly · #12–20 — The original. Rides higher than the parachute in broken water.
- Adult Cranefly dry fly · #10–16 — Long trailing legs, sparse hackle, skittered rather than drifted. Autumn and spring evenings on the bank side.
- Adult Damsel dry fly · #10–14 — Blue or olive extended body on a foam post. For midsummer afternoons on slow weedy water.