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2. Specimen Discussion
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3. Eastern Green Drake

I can't seem to be able to find my Green Drake/Brown Drake fly box....might of left it someplace or maybe it is up in my cabin but in case it is lost (over 100 emergers, duns, and spinmners) I was wondering what you PA/NY fishers use for the body? Specifically what color? do any of you color the dorsal side with brown indelible ink? I do and rib the abdomen with brown cotton thread. Thanks. A picture would be helpful.

I dont have a picture but here's my recipe.

green drake comparadun-

Tail- moose mane
body- blend of white, insect green, and olive wapsi rabbit dub
rib- white cotton embroidery floss
wing- dun coastal deer hair

spinner

tail- moose mane
body- white wapsi dub
rib - white embroidery floss
wing- dun coastal deer hair tied spent

I have used black ribbing in the past and it worked fine, but after looking at jason's pics I switched to a white ribbing because it seemed more accurate, and it has worked fine as well. I typically don't worry about the top color of my dries because i'm not yet convinced that it matters.

what i like for green drakes is using a olive-brown body with four or five long tails, i usually use moose mane, and a medium to dark brown hackle, sometimes i like to throw in a couple wraps of olive hackle between the brown, and wings i use a olive dyed mallard flank.

what i like for green drakes is using a olive-brown body with four or five long tails, i usually use moose mane, and a medium to dark brown hackle, sometimes i like to throw in a couple wraps of olive hackle between the brown, and wings i use a olive dyed mallard flank.

In all the years I spent fishing the drake on PA freestones (an important distinction), I never used anything but a simple Gray Fox Variant (Flick) and can't say I ever had a refusal that could be attributed to inexact imitation. Always did well on it and it's a pleasant fly to tie and an easy fly to dry with a single false cast.

The pattern/photo is everywhere online; here's one example:

http://flytyingworld.com/fly-detail-58-GrayFoxVariant%28A.Flick%29.html

In all the years I spent fishing the drake on PA limestones, I never did well on anything but a #16 sulfur comparadun...:) That is to say, it was always my experience that the fish preferred the sulfurs which were almost invariably mixed in with the drakes on the water.

All the same, a lot of the guys I knew who fished the drake on Penns or Big Fishing swore by a Wulff-style pattern with a moose body tail, split greenish/yellow deer or calf for the wing, a white to off-cream body and a ginger/grizzly hackle mix. Usually, they were able to bring up several fish before switching to a sulfur and starting to really pound them as a result...:)