Penns Creek Angler
Bruce Fisher
Article April 2007
April is a month of renewal for all anglers, little boys and girls and big boys and girls wait all year for the trout season opener. Children will go fishing with their fathers and mothers at the same spot they’ve used for generations. Families will go to camp and renew friendships cemented over many fishing seasons. Opening day holds a special magic that’s just like Christmas morning. I’ve seen the excitement in young children as they reel in their first fish and the friendly competition between the seasoned veterans. Even if it snows a few inches anglers will line the creek banks to usher in the new season. April 15 is just a couple of weeks away and Penns Creek will be alive again with angler’s young and old.
Opening day will pass and by the middle of April the trees will start to bud and the landscape will brighten with signs of spring. Canadian Geese, Mallards and Mergansers will pair up and pick nest sites. Every flower has its turn sprout from the earth and bloom and every fly has its time to hatch. Some of the more knowledgeable fisherman can forecast the fly hatches just by seeing certain flowers bloom. This year may be somewhat different with the unseasonably hot and cold weather. I have yet to see the Brown Stoneflies I talked about in last months article. But things will eventually fall into their proper sequence.
By late April its time for the Hendrickson’s to make their annual appearance. Last season they hatched about a week after opening day. This is a large fly about a size of a nickel in height and is the biggest fly to hatch to this point in the year. The hatching will occur daily sometime between 10am and 2pm. Hatch times can be altered by air and water temperature. If its cold the hatch will happen later in the afternoon and if it’s hot the hatch will occur earlier in the day. It might be a good idea to spend some time on the water to get a feel for what is going on.
This fly as well as many others has several names, Red Quill, Light Hendrickson and Dark Hendrickson. The reason for this is the male and female Hendrickson’s are different colors and sizes. The female is larger by 25% has smaller dark eyes and the body color is yellowish red. The male is a rusty brown with large red eyes. Both have beautiful dark gray wings, three tails and the body is between 9-12 mm long. You can see the fly’s dark gray wing coming downstream for a long distance and so can the fish. The hatch will last almost 10 days and then it will be gone for another year. I included a picture of female Hendrickson photographed on April 17, 2005.
“Catch you later”
Bruce Fisher
© 2008