Insects and other foods the trout may be eating:
1. Blue-winged Olives (Baetis) - sparse hatches
2. Blue Quills - hatching
3. Quill Gordons - hatching
4. Hendricksons - could start any day now - nymphs are important
5. Little Black Caddis - hatching
6. Little Brown Stoneflies - hatching
7. Midges - hatching in isolated locations
8. Streamers - matching sculpin, baitfish and small crawfish
The Hendrickson duns leave the water to fly off to the trees or vegetation along the
banks just as soon as their wings dry. As I said yesterday, the trout probably eat
more of the emergers in the skim that the duns. It is easier for them to do that. They
will take the duns though and very well at times. The water is still cool when these
mayflies hatch, or from about 50 to 55 degrees. That is still a little marginal for very
active trout. It also adds to the amount of time required for the duns wings to dry
and this means the duns are on the surface a relatively long time. It is not
uncommon to see them drift as fully developed duns for as much as twenty feet.
The bodies of the male and female duns are completely different colors.
The advantage you have fishing the Perfect Fly dun over the emergers with the
CDC wings is that they are much easier to see on the water. For many anglers, this
results in a higher percentage of hookups on the duns. You have to watch for rise
rings with you are using the emergers. You usually get a much more visible take
from the dun imitations.
We fish the duns up and across just like we do the emergers. Remember that you
want to concentrate on the moderately flowing water such as I described in the
nymph part of these articles. The Hendricksons are not a fast water mayfly. They
are crawlers, not clingers. You will not be able to find them hatching unless you find
the right type of water. Sometimes, the moderate water with the right type of bottom
can be found within pocket water streams but it is usually only a small area and
there are usually not that many Hendricksons there.
This is our "Perfect Fly" imitation of the female Hendrickson Dun
This is our "Perfect Fly" imitation of the male Hendrickson Dun.
Copyright 2009 James Marsh