Little bug, big feeding frenzy

May 25, 2011|Morgan Sherburne (231) 439-9394 -

It is called "the gentleman's hatch," is described as keeping "banker's hours," and, perhaps most importantly, brings up wily -- and potentially large -- brown trout.

The "it" is the Hendrickson hatch, and one of the first opportunities for fly anglers to see fish feeding on the surface of the water.

"It is the first big mayfly hatch of the season, and the most important early afternoon hatch," said Chuck Hawkins, owner of Hawkins Outfitters in Traverse City. "It's the gentleman's hatch because it doesn't happen until the afternoon. You can sleep in; you can stay out playing cards."

Mayflies are an order of insects that live for only a few days, hatching out of river and lake systems. The bugs are a source of food for trout -- and therefore an insect that fly anglers try to imitate, attempting to fool trout into hitting on artificial flies constructed of fur and feather.

The Hendricksons hatch after the water has hit 50 degrees for a certain number of days. After the bugs have hatched, most of the adults become sexually mature overnight.

"Then, they mate out over the river, performing spinner flights in an up and down motion. The female forms a small, bright yellow egg sac; you can see them just about a mile away," said Hawkins. "When they drop and dip the egg sacs, they die and look like little airplanes on the water. That's the spinner fall."

And that, too, is what may bring big fish up to feed, says Lance Weyeneth of the Gates Au Sable Lodge in Grayling.

"You've come through winter and spring ... and our fish have had to rely upon eating other fish, sculpin or nymphs. Then, these (Hendricksons) hatch on cue in huge numbers," said Weyeneth. "The mayfly is big enough and numerous enough that this literally creates a feeding frenzy."

The feeding frenzy is sparked by two characteristics of the Hendrickson: that the mayfly is prolific, and that it is large.

"Normally, brown trout wait until night to feed, and oftentimes eat each other," said Weyeneth. "The Hendrickson hatch is prodigious enough that you'll have the opportunity to catch extremely large fish that you won't otherwise be able to catch on a dry fly."

This spring's Au Sable Hendrickson hatch didn't go quite exactly as planned. The cold, late spring hampered the hatch.

"The good news is that I think the conditions helped create healthy, robust trout that needed this spring we had," said Weyeneth, explaining that the high water on the Au Sable made fishing difficult. "Because of the high water, the trout got to eat for 40 straight days, in some cases, unmolested (by anglers)."

Catch a few of the last Hendricksons on the Au Sable River near Grayling. Now, says Weyeneth, start looking for light Hendricksons.

The light Hendricksons, often confused with a mayfly called the "sulphur," will give way to the sulphurs. After the sulphurs come the march browns, the brown drakes, and, finally -- the mayfly of all mayflies -- the Hexegenia mayfly. This, the largest of the previous hatches, happens late at night.

"Throughout the season, the hatches get later and later in the day," said Hawkins. "After the hex, the hatches are at the crack of dawn with the trico (mayflies)."

In other words: from late April to early July, expect later and later hatches. After early July, wake with the chickens to fish the same streams.

This brings to mind a combination of two old adages: there is no rest for the wicked or the weary. So string up a dry fly, hit the river and fool some fish.

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