FLYMPH FORUM

Mach 1: Western Green Drake Subsurface Emerger

• Hook: Knapek Czech Nymph #8
• Weight: 10 Turns 0.01" lead wire
• Thread: Olive 12/0 Bennechi
• Tail: 3-4 Strands olive-brown dyed pheasant tail
• Rib: Chartreuse Uni 3/0 monocord
• Body: Dark and medium olive dyed squirrel
• Hackle 1: Dyed amber grizzly cock hackle leading edge stripped
• Hackle 2: Olive dyed hen saddle (leave enough basal fluff on stem for at least 1 complete wrap)
• Hackle 3: Olive dyed Hungarian partridge flank

My last outing drove home to me how very big this insect can be. While I have a very effective surface emerger pattern for the green drake, I needed something that would work subsurface. This is what I hit on.

Aaron

Aaron,

Let me be the first to say that is a great looking pattern. On the East coast (U.S.) we spend thought trying to make patterns sparse enough to approximate the naturals, but there are a couple that require some substance. Nice job layering the materials to get that quality. I haven't spent a lot of time tying Drake patterns, other than the Iso's.

Did you dye your materials yourself? That looks like a good match to the natural.

w

Skunkaroo....very nice work and I really like the monocord rib....when I first looked I thought it was wire and then I was glad to see the monocord......excellent!

William: I only dyed the amber grizzly hackle. I don't know about you, but the olive and olive browns have always been the most difficult for me to get right when it comes to dying. For these colours (and hot pink cerise) I will buy pre-dyed for the time being.

The Western green drakes are far from "Sparse" in real life. Here is a small one that a friend managed to capture when fishing. Below that a shot of the nymph. The adults can get upwards of 1 & 3/4". I find that the problem with designing a pattern for them is not imitating legs and wings, but the very thick short abdomen. In spite of the full appearance, the hackle on the fly above looks incredibly translucent when wet.





Vern-o: For the drakes I always use floss or thread for rib. Wire or oval tinsels are both garish and don't mimic the muted rib on the natural. Thanks for the compliment.

Aaron

BTW The lead wrapping is not the usual for a soft hackle, but getting this large hackle to break the water tension is difficult hence its inclusion.

WOW! Kick-Ass pattern, Aaron! Top knotch tying...