Brown Drake/March Brown (repost)

[skunkaroo]

Repost...

Brown Drake

• Hook: Mustad R50 #12-8
• Thread: Iron dun (dark grey/brown) 12/0 or similar
• Tail: Three RN pheasant tail fibres
• Rib: Gold/tan rayon floss (single strand of 4-strand spool)
• Body: Special Blend (see below)
• Rear hackle: Chinese light brown cape (see below)
• Front hackle: Olive/bronze partridge (custom dyed)

I've posted this elsewhere, but this is a more recent version. Originally tyed as a Brown Drake pattern, in slightly smaller sizes (as here) it works as a March Brown imitation. This has really been a general purpose fly for me, enticing big rainbows in my region for the past five or six years. I usually fish this greased in the surface film, but I've caught plenty of fish submerged in the top third of the water column with this pattern.

A note on the hackle: If the hackling seems a little on the heavy side I can assure you that it is intentional. The delicate hackle found on most of our soft-hackles is inappropriate for a lot of the faster pocket water in this region.

A note on the "special blend" dubbing: We've all got some secret blend or other that seems to work better than others. In this case I combine Hareline's #33 (oddly named "seal brown"), claret seal, and natural hare's ear (or alternatively "Adam's grey" rabbit). In about a 75/12.5/12.5% ratio. The colouration is both a close approximation of the brown drake natural as well as giving a vein like cast to the body. I'm sure it doesn't matter one iota to the fish, but it gives me a little more confidence .

Body Close-up


Aaron

[willowhead]

YO! Skunk.....those are "Something Else"........VERY beautiful.........LOVE 'em. And i couldn't agree more.....i don't fish softies in flat slow water that much.....rather use water like that for Pure dry fly fishin'.....i like usin' soft hackles in broken water (riffles) and pocket water.....fish don't have a lotta time/chance to "inspect" that way..............it's EAT or forget about it. Gives you a big advantage.....since presentation does not have to be perfect. Another reason flymphs are so cool.....who needs a wing? "Eat or forget about it." Fortunately, the little buggers are almost always hungry.

[CreationBear]

This one has been bookmarked for a while, too... I'm curious, do you find yourself using a lot of "non-genetic" rooster for your pocket-water flies? Like you I fish pretty high gradient streams, and like "damps" in the film...(it's a constant temptation to tie in a snowshoe hair wing on just every fly--most of my "soft hackles" end up looking like "deconstructed" Stimulators. )

[willowhead]

C.B., i like fishing in the film a LOT! Flies that look or act like energers are just as fun as a dry fly, because you get to see all the action, AND it's easier for the fish to be fooled by "vulnerable" appearing flies, and less chance of them missing the strike. i'll use almost any type (various birds/hen or rooster), of a feather for a soft hackle, as long as it wraps well and i like the look (coloration/mottling/etc.) of it. i'm also a HUGE fan of Snowshoe Rabbit.....the Usual, and various variations of it being my all time favorite types of flies for suface Trout fishing. Little Midge imitations can also be made using Snowshoe, down to almost any of the really small hook sizes. Stuff looks "buggy," is durable, and floats like a cork. If your in the south.....gimme a call whenever your in the Ozarks. You should try and make the Sowbug Roundup in March.....17th, 18th & 19th.
One more thing.....i don't think in terms of genetic or non-genetic.....if i like it, i'll use it, simple. But understand.....i take a totally different approach to tying, between doin' fishin' flies and doin' artistic flies. For artistic flies.....i don't think about fish or fishing that much at all.....(other than philisophically).....i'm just a painter with a hook for a canvas. But fishin' (Trout), flies.....i like buggy, mottled flies, with movement and natural earthy colors.....unless of course we're talkin' steelie fishin' and such.....then i go KArazy with HOT WILD colors. Also love to tye Pike flies that have a TON of movement and alllll kinna fliped out color schemes. Pike are so cool.....they eat anything and fear nothin'! When i tye for Pike all i want is a fly that will drive 'em up a tree.....know-what-i-mean? Durability is a non factor in terms of a priority.....i love to tye so much that how long a fly may or may not last is a non-factor.....a destroyed fly just means another opprotunity to get to the vise again. i do tye them as durable as i can.....but i don't nessessarily use the "Most" durable of materials is what i mean. i use what pleases me, for the way the fly looks, and behaves in the water. My Pike flies do have a couple things in common with my artistic flies.....1. the use of both natural and synthetic materials together, and 2. the use of some pretty interesting hooks.

[CreationBear]

Willowhead-- thanks for the reply...I'm actually a native Arkansan though I (mis)spent my youth fishing for river smallies down in the Ouachitas rather than for trout. I've been trying to make amends ever since...

[willowhead]

You still live in Arkansas.........??????.......WHERE? if so.............you gotta come over and hang out..........you'll think you died and went to heaven............ gimme a call.....870-431-8955 house or 870-575-2279 cell or 870-706-7872 OnStar in my truck.....
p.s. btw.....there's a little correction/addition in the above reply.....where (after), i said, "think about fish or fishin' that much at all"..... check it out.....

[skunkaroo]

This one has been bookmarked for a while, too... I'm curious, do you find yourself using a lot of "non-genetic" rooster for your pocket-water flies? Like you I fish pretty high gradient streams, and like "damps" in the film...(it's a constant temptation to tie in a snowshoe hair wing on just every fly--most of my "soft hackles" end up looking like "deconstructed" Stimulators. )

Looks like a few folks have been dredging up the past (it's all good though).

I don't use cock hackle non-genetic or otherwise on many of my soft hackles but when I feel the need to support longer soft hackle fibres (as in this case), the cock hackle becomes very useful.

Aaron

[willowhead]

OH! thank you thank you THANK YOU............come to think of it, i don't remember ever using cock hackle before (underneath) hen, or other soft hackle.....to "suppot" it for whatever reason(s)............ah.....like maybe wanting to fish it in REALLY fast water sometime.....so instead of the hackle totally collapsing, it might stay flared a bit in that serious water.............thank you thank you thank you. For sure it'll look great.....man, i gotta get to it.