Months Away

As the sun’s first rays caught the treetops on Point Mountain, I found my porch thermometer flirting with the ten degree mark. The last triumph of my thirtieth Catskill dry fly season is 45 days behind me, and the next one lies some four months away!

I opened the silver Wheatley fly box that rides closest to my heart amid the pockets of my vest. I began the changeover, removing the terrestrial flies and spying on the various mayflies that will follow them on their path to the summer boxes to be stored away. In those lidded compartments the Hendricksons and Quill Gordons will return to their homes, doubtless to be joined by new variations as I wander through these next four months. In it’s lid, the box holds a few Rusty Spinners and soft hackles whose ranks will be fortified, where they will wait for a warm, glorious April afternoon as it blends into evening.

The flood endured during the first third of April 2022 stole the majority of this fishing from me, but I remember a few bright moments. I had added a row of Rusty Spinners to my Translucence Series in the lid of that box, and they proved invaluable once low, clear summerlike flows predominated late in the month. I was surprised by spinners on the water near four in the afternoon, divulged only by a trio of soft risers along the shallow riverbank. One sipping trout beyond mid-river betrayed his position in filtered sunlight, the scenario that inspired my Translucence spinner.

I offered that fly on a long, downstream reach cast, the delicacy and control of the bamboo rod allowing perfect presentation. Ah, the glory of that straining arc of cane and a screaming reel!

The top left compartments of that Wheatley hold my favorite Quill Gordons: the Translucence 100-Year Dun that started off my Beaver Kill season with a pair of heavy brownies, my Dyed Wild variations, and the classic Catskill ties.

The Gordon Quill most often heralds the beginning of my dry fly season, but the Hendricksons follow close behind. With them, the season springs forth in full bloom! When the Hendricksons are heavy on the water, the trout can become terribly selective, and much of the Wheatley’s remaining capacity will hold my armada of patterns. Author Al Caucci considered that there are a number of related Hendrickson species of mayflies floating along our Catskill rivers, and it pays to be prepared to match each of them with various patterns! A good deal of my favorite winter days are spent tying Hendricksons.

In my own fishing, I have matched five decidedly different mayflies I consider to be Hendricksons. There is the classic tan bodied fly, the most numerous, that begat Roy Steenrod’s iconic Hendrickson dry fly. This size 12 or 14 mayfly is the one most anglers agree is Ephemerella subvaria, and Art Flick’s classic Red Quill is most often the match for the smaller male of that mayfly. There is a big, brick-reddish dun I encounter on the Beaver Kill alone. I tie several patterns in a size 12 with a special blend of dubbing for that early spring emergence, though I swear some of the naturals look to be closer to a size 10! I have had great fishing to some very selective wild brown trout taking a size 16 brown bodied dun that I would equate to Harry Darbee’s version of the Dark Hendrickson dry fly. Last in the procession is the sour, sulfur yellow bodied 16 dun I have taken to calling the Lady H, a contraction of little dirty yellow Hendrickson. If you conceive and tie high and low-floating duns, emergers and cripples you will begin to understand why I have so many hundreds of Hendricksons!