The Hendrickson mayfly comes off the water in the early spring. From April through May, the female, a dark, steely gray mayfly, comes off the water sporadically throughout the day. The male variant leans towards an oxide-red-gray color; both , in my neck of the woods,  are the mid-size compacts of the mayfly world. Ephemerella Subvaria is one of the long-awaited mayfly hatches of the season in most parts of the eastern US. I personally look forward to it all winter long. Because the spring brings swifter water flows and often discoloration, I tie this fly a size larger than most of my adult and emerger mayfly patterns that I use in mid-summer. The same holds true for my March Brown patterns. Typically, a more bushy fly that can float like a cork in a faster current is an early spring staple for my first cold days of fishing in spring creeks. In general, the trout are a little less discriminating when the hatch is on in the early season. As the spring leans into summer, my fly patte...