Green drake comments requested.

jayL

jayL

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Jan 2, 2007
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I tied my first ever green drakes. Bought two from TCO and emulated. My sizes are a bit off, but I think they should work.

Coffins and nymphs. The one is tungsten for the faster water, and the other is a wiggle nymph. I put ostrich herl in for gills.

I also stole an idea from the feathered hook with the thingamabobber fly... I'm going to feel like a real idiot buying glow in the dark nail polish, but it must be done.

Will they get the job done, or should I change anything before I tie more? (I realize the extended bodies leave something to be desired)
 

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They look good to me. I'm curious about the "thingamabobber." Is this a strike indicator? It looks like there is a fly tied in there - is this a visibility spinner for night fishing to surface feeders? It might be easier to tie in a visibility post of closed cell foam, harden the surface with some epoxy or polyurathane, and then paint it with the glow-in-the-dark paint/fingernail polish.
I'd be interested in hearing your reports and opinion regarding the success/effectiveness/practicality of this fly.
 
Re: the thingamabobber flies.

I saw them for sale in the feathered hook, and figured I'd give it a shot. The ones there were huge, and I only had the materials for a smaller sized bug... who knows.

I'm also tinkering with high vis posts, but I can't seem to find my grizzly hackle. It got lost in transition between the jam and home, somehow. Hopefully I can find it to tie a few up.

The idea is to put some glow in the dark paint on them (probably nail polish) and float a nymph at night. I only tied these two, so I'm not exactly planning on using them much, but I figure I'll get a chance in two nights fishing this week.

I'm also going to 'glow up' a few foam pinch ons to put on my leader. I've night fished with dries before, and once I get out there, I always realize how hard it is. I'm trying to play every angle I can get.

The game planning is the most fun part for me.
 
The other day, while browsing through the Walmart craft section looking for neat stuff, I saw they had glow-in-the-dark thread.

I didn't buy any, but such a thing exists. I bet it'd be easy to "charge" it up with a short blast from one of those little LED lights.
 
Good call gfen. Hopefully target has some, since that's on the way home. It's also in a "nicer" area than the wal mart here. That place is a nut house, and I avoid it at all costs. I don't like getting stared down by the police officers behind every few registers.
 
Nice looking coffin flies.
But no duns? They can be pretty important also
 
dryflyguy wrote:
Nice looking coffin flies.
But no duns? They can be pretty important also

Thanks.

The duns are scheduled for tonight, as well as a handful of nymphs.

Any comments on the size? I put them on the hat for scale, and I just kind of made them up as I went, so they could be off.
 
Depends on where you're fishing them.
The freestone drakes are smaller and greener - I use green mallard flank feathers for their wings, tied on regular #10 hooks
For limestoners - penns and fishing creeks - I use yellow calf hair wings, and tie them on #10 and #8 2XL hooks
 
What hackle do you use for them?
 
dj,

I'd be using grizzly if I had it. For the duns, I'm using light ginger, because it's what I have.
 
jayL, any chance we could get a closer look at your ties?

Dave R.
 
Jay.. a closer look would be for my benefit only...I think they are cool. This is what I tie for coffins except I clip the top and bottom of the hackle. easy and fast...
 

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JayL, your flies, even to my old eyes, look quite good...except for the thingamabobber. Sorry, that's just too much for this old codger.

Tom, nice spinner pattern. Moose mane for tails?

Here's my spinner pattern. Very similar to Tom's.
 

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I mix ginger and grizzley hackle for my duns
 
Here are all of the patterns I tied up for this trip. I hope penns isn't blown, so I can try them. I messed around a lot with different nymphs. Who knows, they could work.

Nice spinners guys.
 

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I bought a few standard poly coffins as well, and tied some replicas. but they are nothing special. I like the patterns I made up. Dave, the wiggle nymph idea came from you. Thanks!
 
dont be afraid to tie them big
 
I was experimenting to come up with a different look and tied a more traditional looking wet fly. If it doesn't work, I'll try it on steelhead this winter.
 
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