Harrop Hairwing Green Drake 01/31/2025 Photo Album

It appears that I have not tied Harrop green drakes in quite awhile, as my last post was on 04/13/2018, and that is very late in my annual fly tying cycle. My post of 12/29/2015 provides the story of my introduction to this productive fly. My lack of more recent posts suggests that I have not used the hair wing extensively in recent years, or perhaps I posted under a different name that avoids my search string.

Size 14

The hair wing version of the green drake is very similar to the comparadun from a color perspective; however, it possesses the unique characteristics of hackle and a swept back deer hair wing. The hardest aspect of tying the fly is positioning the angled deer hair as the last step and preventing it from rolling around the hook or sliding into the hook eye.

Size 12 Hovering

This fly is usually my third option during green drake emergences; however, on occasion I knot it to my line as a prospecting pattern, as it resembles a stimulator. I had quite a bit of success prospecting this fly during July on the upper Arkansas River during gray drake activity.

Batch of Six with Materials

My count revealed that I was running low on both size twelves and fourteens, so I cranked out four fourteens and two twelves. Hopefully these flies will see some action during 2025.