The Hendrickson Cripple
Above photo: The Hendrickson Cripple, pullet tip wings, quill body, CDL tail fibers, sparse gray hackle tied in crisscross, 3 wraps only. Semperfli nano silk windings. Less is better.
There are many ways to render a cripple. It is a wonderful thing when the vulnerability of a living thing feeds the hunter. Over time, the hunter zeroes in on the weakest to conserve energy only later to use against the strong. Trout have a unique instinct to conserve energy. The cripple provides an economy of movement. The cripple becomes an excellent morsel for the opportunistic feeder. An older, wiser trout will patiently wait for a spent reflection. The cripple is often singled out in a village of soldiers. He will eat the soldiers later once the sun shows its face, then quickly retreat into the shadows until the next dawn. At sunup, the cripples are again his first prime morsel.
Above photo: Pullet feathers are wispy and gossamer; for the cripple, I angle them in a slight upward position, and dub a warm gray beaver belly thorax ball carefully between the wing posts. Find an old dun hackle, low grade and sparse, and take 3 crisscross turns of hackle around your thorax ball, keeping the hackle fibers splayed.
In the photo above, notice how much more rounded the tips are compared to a standard hen cape. Pullet is easy and cheap to get just park yourself at your local hatchery.
This pullet neck in the below photo was part of A.K. Best's personal stash, and I purchased it from him in 1998, then dyed it a warmish medium dun. I have a drawer full of A. K.'s undyed pullet necks, and around late fall I go through the ritual of dying one or two of them in his honor. His books on dyeing and bleaching materials are invaluable. Controlling your own color is a great advantage.
Above photo: A wonderful pullet neck that will be used for hundreds
of flies and last many years.
A.K. Best ~Dyeing and Bleaching Natural Fly Tying Materials
These are first- and second-edition books that have been so valuable to my fly tying for decades. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy; it will inspire you to control all your material colorways.
We are up to 230k on readership as of today. My blog entries are often daily. The ritual of writing for me is very therapeutic. Reading is fun; it strengthens the mind, keeps your neurotransmitters keen, and engages your frontal lobes. Tight lines and tight neurons!
Thanks for letting me share my breadcrumbs ~Clint Bova
