Fly Tying a Green Drake
I am experimenting with a few green drake patterns before tying a drake box for the summer. This is part two of my series documenting my successes, failures, and learnings fly tying the green drake.
Check out part one for my first round of patterns.
I started out challenging myself with hair wing, tilt wing, and hackle stacker flies. It’ll take much more practice to get confident with these wing variations. To make the process even harder, I added extended bodies to the mix.
The great thing about tying a big mayfly like the green drake is how many materials you can fit on the hook. One has many options and variety in a fly this grand and beautiful.
Though this is also the worst thing about tying a big mayfly. The great variety in styles and materials can make these flies much more difficult to tie than they need to be. Something we do too often in fly tying.
The next pattern on my list was the DJL Drake. A fly tied by Danny Lane, a guide in eastern Idaho, to emulate the green drakes found on the South Fork and Henry’s Fork of the Snake. This fly has a realistic profile while taking advantage of a short shank hook.
The DJL Drake was a major challenge for me. It was my first time tying extended bodies on a pin. Combining this with my little experience tying tilt-wings made for many frustrations. Though I loved the Ahrex 527 big gap dry hook for this pattern and the yellow hackle cape made a world of difference in the final look of the fly.
My biggest struggle with these flies was the tilt-wing. Next time I plan to trim the elk hair after wrapping my hackle, rather than before. Other than using different legs than Danny, I am happy with how this fly turned out and plan to have it in my arsenal next summer.
I then transitioned to foam and gave the All Day Dun a go. Ed McCoy designed this fly in the East for the hex hatches. A friend of mine turned me onto this fly and we thought a smaller version would be a perfect green drake. This is another fly that challenged my tying skills.
While Ed does not like using super glue in his dry flies, I had a hard time without it. I had trouble keeping my calf hair wing in place. On one fly it pulled out completely while wrapping the hackle. I also had trouble removing the extended body from the pin without destroying it. A few kinks to work through, but I was satisfied with the final fly. The All Day Dun might be the most difficult but my favorite green drake I have tied thus far.
A fly I had success with last summer was Galloup’s cripple. I thought a green drake version would be a great representation of a single-wing spinner or knocked-over dun. I took a picture of a green drake floating last summer that inspired me to tie the green drake version of Kelly’s famous cripple pattern. Here is the picture below (click on the images for a close-up).
Lastly, I tied some soft hackle green drakes. Using marabou, CDC, and bugger hackle, I was happy with how these turned out. The versatility of this fly is what I am most excited about. This fly gives me the option to fish it as a dry fly, nymph, emerger, or a swung soft hackle.
I am more than satisfied with the variety of patterns I challenged myself with through this process. I think it is time to sit down and tie a few dozen to get some practice and fill the box. I plan to use what I learned through this process and apply it to other mayfly patterns in all sizes and colors. My final box will include DJL Drakes, All Day Duns, Hairwing duns, Galloup’s Cripples, Last Chance cripples, and a few wet flies. All in a variety of sizes and colors. I’ll probably add a few more common variations such as a standard parachute.
I hope you enjoy reading through my process of tying. I plan to fill a few more boxes this winter and will continue to share my experiences. I welcome any suggestions/tips you have on problems I have in these articles. I wish you a great start to 2024 with some time on the vise.
-Nick
4 thoughts on “Fly Tying the Green Drake (Part Two)”
DJL Drakes with a brighter hair wing and the Fast water drakes are a couple of my favorites. Nick, you have come a long way in a short period of time. Looking forward to what comes next from the Curious Angler!!!
Thanks Dan! I appreciate you reading my articles and sharing your excitement. I look forward to another year of learning though it!
These are great looking flies, well proportioned and clean. You don’t give yourself enough credit for what you do. In Colorado most of the drakes swim up and struggle out of their shuck on the surface, then fly off much like emerging caddis. The riseforms are violent during the time they are on the surface. My most effective patterns have a shuck and/or one or two wraps of soft hackle wrapped next to the eye of the hooks to represent legs. I activate the fly with twitches or rapid mends to stimulate the struggle to emerge – big fun!
Thanks for the comment Gregg! We see some violent rise forms over here in Montana and Idaho as well. I have never tried to activate the fly like you describe, but think it would work wonders during the hatch. I’ll have to give it a try next June.
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