About Flick's hook model in variants. He also used a regular 94840---in examples I've seen of his flies---from more than one source. So don't fret...use what hook you like for variants...Like anything "what era, what year, and what tier tied the fly".
I've used both shorter and regular 94840 hooks, but Winnie seemed to use the 94840 for her Grey Fox/Dun variants---and if was good enough for her, then it was what I preferred, too
There are variations that still hold the fly true.
There is almost nothing that is "authentic" in how something should be tied...as the creators changed things themselves from time to time.
The other thing I try to remember is that there was a gulf in years between when Flick wrote his little book....and when Crown reissued it years later. He changed some things, too, in his opinions over time. like all of them did.
Let me give you some more hard evidence of Flick and his hook choices he stated in his Streamside Guide, as opposed to what he sometimes used later---in the same pattern.
Here's another example of what I'm tring to say:
If you have his Master Fly Tying Guide, published in 1972, look at that hook he uses for his Hendrickson, in his Step-by-Step. Look at the images on pages 59 and 67. Is that the hook he recommended in his Streamside Guide? No. He used, in the Master's Guide Step-by Step, a very long shank hook. He sometimes used long shanked hooks in his dry flies (and I've seen those at the American Museum of Fly Fishing collections). There's one image of that longer shank hook Hendrickson on Clarks Forum right now, posted by Quashnet, But he also used regular length hooks for his Hendrickson, as we know and is more common maybe. Did he vary hooks? Yes.
In fact---look at his page 75 figure #5. He's tying his Grey Fox Variant. That's not a short shank hook he's using. Nothing like what he may have "originally" recommended in his Streamside Guide.
What he stated in his little Streamside guide is not a fast rule in what he even used himself. From time to time he varied things a bit---an d his own writings and photographs show that to be true. And thus while he recommeded a certain hook in his Streamside Guide---that is not a rule, for sure.
