One of the highlights of each fishing season is encountering a western green drake hatch. I can almost guarantee a green drake emergence if I visit the Frying Pan River between July and October. Hitting green drakes on other Colorado streams is more haphazard, but I’ve encountered them on St. Vrain Creek, the Roaring River, Clear Creek, the Fraser River, the Conejos River, and the Eagle River. If I only spot a few of these large mayflies by western standards, I immediately tie a green drake imitation to my line. Trout seem to have a long memory for green drakes, and because of their large size they are a treat to use as a prospecting fly.

For the most part fish are not extremely selective to green drake flies; however, over time I have tied numerous varieties. My first attempts were intended to mimic some green drake cripples that I purchased in Basalt on an early trip. They were called green drake cripples and were tied with a marabou tail and abdomen, then a deer hair collar and then hackle. They were difficult to tie and I gradually used them up and moved on to comparadun style green drakes. I made these with many shades of olive dubbing and had varying results.

This summer I traveled to the Conejos River in southcentral Colorado in late July and based upon the recommendation of the gentleman at the Conejos River Angler, I purchased a couple green drake flies. These flies produced quite well on my second day on the river in spite of a relatively sparse emergence. Subsequently the same flies produced fish on Clear Creek, but I lost all but one. Before I lost the remaining fly, I decided to use it as a model and produce some new ones for a September trip to the Frying Pan River.

Purchased Green Drake Took Ten Fish

I used the purchased fly to determine that the proper hook size was 12 3XL. I also was able to find some dubbing labeled light olive that matched the abdomen quite well, and found some maroon sewing thread in Jane’s sewing box that was perfect for the ribbing. Dark coastal deer hair was the final ingredient for the wing. The fly I purchased was much bushier than my version, but I wasn’t sure how to attach the extra materials, so I stayed with the sparse comparadun pattern.

Top View of Green Drake

I stream tested these newly tied flies in September on the Frying Pan River and they performed like a charm. I landed four trout in a fifteen minute time period at the tail end of the green drake hatch, and Dan landed one as well. I was convinced that this was the model I would stick to for future years of green drake fly tying.

Nice Side View of Green Drake Comparadun

I sat down at my vice over the weekend and whipped out ten size 12 3XL green drakes. I’m quite anxious to test them again during the summer of 2012.

Nine Green Drakes and Materials Used

Early in the season, particularly on the Arkansas River, a caddis with a dark body is highly effective. Deer hair caddis with a peacock body are probably a better imitation of the caddis that hatch in thick clouds on the Arkansas; however, I’ve found that a dark olive-brown body caddis also fools fish. In addition this fly produces during other early season caddis hatches on various Colorado rivers so it is more versatile.

Underside of Olive Brown Deer Hair Caddis

Since I was on a roll making 20 light gray deer hair caddis, I simply swapped out the tying thread and dubbing and continued producing size 16 deer hair caddis with a dark olive-brown body. I made 15 of these to go along with the supply that already occupied my fly box.

Another fly that I discovered I was in short supply of late in the season was the light gray deer hair caddis. This fly proved to be a huge winner in one of my late season outings on the Big Thompson River, and it was after this experience that I discovered my shortage and I tied eight more before visiting the South Platte in Wildcat Canyon.

Dark bodied deer hair caddis seem to be the desired fly of trout early in the season, but by August, September and October gray or light colored caddis seem to be a better imitation. The late season caddis I’ve captured seem to have a yellow hue, but the light gray poly dubbing that I use seems to work across a broader range of matching situations than yellow.

When I tallied my list of fly tying requirements, I realized that I needed to make quite a few light gray and olive brown caddis in size 16, so I purchased a $25 pack of Whiting saddle hackles rated size 16. These are extremely long saddle hackles with size sixteen along the entire length. What a pleasure it was to tie twenty light gray deer hair caddis with the long saddles as I used approximately 2.5 feathers to complete 20 flies.

Twenty Light Gray Deer Hair Caddis

I tie my size 16 caddis in a very sparse manner with a narrow body and no palmered hackle over the abdomen. I make a full wrap around the deer hair before cinching it down on top of the hook to prevent the deer hair from rolling around the hook shank. I apply some head cement to the thread wraps that serve as the base for the deer hair, and I usually make four wraps of hackle in front of the deer hair wing. I’ve been in several situations where I caught fish with my sparse caddis when others failed or had less consistent success.

Sparse Light Gray Caddis

I began tying this fly several years ago when I discovered it in a book I purchased by Scott Sanchez at the fly fishing show in Denver. I made 5-10 flies in the 12-14 size range, but they were poorly tied using calf tail hair for the wing. I crowded the head and the slippery wing material tended to to pull out after catching a few fish or even from handling the fly.

For the 2011 season I plan to begin with 15 solid royal stimulators. I’ve already tied nine of them, and I’m now putting three coats of head cement on the thread wraps ahead of the wing. I’ve also switched to calf body hair instead of calf tail, and the calf body hair seems to be less slippery and less unruly. I tie these flies on 3X long hooks.

I believe the main fish attracting qualities of the royal stimulator are the iridescent peacock body material and the red thread. I also love the white wing for visibility in the twilight hours. The large size of the fly and the dense palmered hackle contribute to buoyancy and visibility.

Top View of Stimulator

I’ve experienced much success using the royal stimulator early in the season and also throughout the season in the small headwater streams in Colorado. The royal stimulator floats well and brings up fish in the likely spots in small streams such as those found in Rocky Mountain National Park and tributaries to the Arkansas River.

Perhaps my best fishing experience during the summer of 2010 occurred while casting a royal stimulator in the last hour before dark on Brush Creek near Eagle, CO. You can read more about this on the page link, Brush Creek – 7/10/10.