Green Drake Nymph

[tie2fish]

If published hatch charts are to believed, there is a decent chance that we will catch part of the Green Drake emergence while we're in Roscoe this year. And also based on what I've been reading, trout reportedly prefer to eat the nymphal stage of the fly as opposed to the duns, even when an active hatch is in progress. For these reasons, I thought it might be a good idea to have a nymph pattern on hand. After looking at quite a few photos of actual green drake nymphs and various patterns that folks have devised to imitate them, I came up with the following:

Hook: Daiichi 1550, Size #10
Thread: Uni-Thread 8/0, black
Tail: Barbs from small feathers found near the base of a complete pheasant tail clump
Abdomen: Ostrich herl dyed olive
Wing case: Slip from black band on white-tipped turkey tail feather
Thorax: Natural hare's poll in dropped loop
Legs: Chinese partridge back (lighter shades than on Hun)

NOTE: This post was edited in 2017 to replace the photo lost to Photobucket. It may be of interest to know that I have fished this pattern with considerable success in the intervening years, even when the Green Drakes were not in evidence.

[Ruard]

Beatiful fly and verry well tied.


greeting

[gig]

That would be a very handy nymph in my tackle box

[Old Hat]

That is a great nymph pattern for the green drakes Bill. I have also done well on Quigley Cripples for green drakes. These two pattens would be all one would need.

[Mataura mayfly]

That is an excellent looking nymph, but where is the foam wing-case?
Serious now, with a subtle colour change of the abdomen, this pattern could turn a hand at imitating many an aquatic nymph, excellent work and beautifully tied/photographed.

[DUBBN]

I tied a few up (variations) like your nymph Bill. I used a 9671 size 14 hook, for a slightly longer thinner profile. In another few weeks the Green Drake nymphs will be the main meal for a lot of the local trout. It will remain that way until the Mothers Caddis start to become active.

Since the Green Drakes mainly hatch at night (my local waters), I dont bother with cripples or drys.

[Old Hat]

I tied a few up (variations) like your nymph Bill. I used a 9671 size 14 hook, for a slightly longer thinner profile. In another few weeks the Green Drake nymphs will be the main meal for a lot of the local trout. It will remain that way until the Mothers Caddis start to become active.

Since the Green Drakes mainly hatch at night (my local waters), I dont bother with cripples or drys.

Awe, just throw on a little glow-in-the dark tinsel and off you go. Just kidding, we are not allowed to fish at night on the streams in Oregon. I did do some interesting research on fish activity at night while in college.

[William Anderson]

Bill, you never cease to amaze. This is killer, and hatch or no hatch...it should be a productive morsel. Cool pattern. It's wonderfully tied, as usual, but the material selection is just fantastic. I really hope we get into a few Green Drakes this year.

[letumgo]

Somehow this fly post drifted past me. Superbly fishable. Brilliant combination of materials. One of your best, and that's saying something!

[tie2fish]

Many thanks for the comments, folks. I'm anxious to fish this one.