Cliffhanger Green Drake Emerger: Fly Tying Tutorial

Great shot from customer Mike Potter

In this video, Simon ties a Green Drake emerger for the pickiest of trout. Whether you’re fishing the Green Drake hatch locally up on the Mckenzie, on the mighty Metolius, or out east on a limestone spring creek in Pennsylvania, this fly is one that you want. It is specifically tied to mimic an emerging Green Drake. The rear of the fly is tied with ostrich, a material chosen with water absorption in mind. This will drop the rear of the fly into the water mimicking a nymphal shuck. This is exactly what fish are looking for subsurface when they are being choosy. The front of the fly is heavily hackled, has 3mm Hi Float Foam, as well as Widow’s Web for maximum buoyancy. This fly will ride high and stay visible when fish are feeding on Drakes in the riffles of the Mckenzie and Metolius. It also will fish well in a tailout or spring creek, riding low looking very realistic for situations where fish have longer to examine your fly. This pattern can be adopted for just about any mayfly and sizes and colors can be substituted. In fact, it was originally developed for the Black Drake hatch on the Williamson river. It was a proven winner there, so it only made sense to tie up a Green Drake variant. Whip some up and get out there!

Cliffhanger Green Drake Emerger

Hook- Ahrex FW531 Sedge Dry Barbless: Size 12 

 Thread- Semperfli Olive Nanosilk: 50D 

 Shuck- Montana Fly Company Ostrich: Grey & Uni Olive Soft Wire: Extra Small 

 Wing- Montana Fly Company Widow’s Web: Smoke

Foam- Hareline 3mm Hi-Float Foam White 

 Abdomen- Hareline Micro Fine Dry Dub: Sulphur Yellow, BWO Olive, & PMD Olive Dun  

Hackle- Whiting Grizzly Barred Olive Saddle  

Bobbin- Stonfo Steeltech Bobbin

Additional Tools- Hareline Anodized Hook, Hackle, & Bead Gauge 

 Vise- Renzettti Traveler 2304 & Renzetti Streamer Base

This entry was posted in Fly Tying, Fly Tying Materials and Supplies, McKenzie River, Middle Fork Willamette River fishing. Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to Cliffhanger Green Drake Emerger: Fly Tying Tutorial

  1. Greg Young says:

    What’s that bug on that drakes front left leg? 😆

  2. Oregon Fly Fishing Blog says:

    Mike, who took the photo is a retired professor of Entomology. When he showed us the photo in the shop he said it was some sort of parasitic mite. Unlucky Green Drake!

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