I was thinking about tying my first mayfly and I wanted to have a go at mimicking the Green Drake in this picture.



I didn't succeed in doing this properly the first time round in terms of the actual dressing. This was really to try to produce a body technique that would produce the distinctive curve, use natural body materials as far as possible and keep the weight down.

Here's what I came up with. It is basically a truss rod technique utilising a hackle quill with a monofilament draw string to pull the tail into shape. The advantages of this approach are probably the weight and the fact that the quill provides a good core to the body. The quill also helps to give some strength to the attachment to the hook.

There may be better ways of doing this of course. This is the first way that I tried when I couldn't find a technique that appealed to me online.

Here's how I started. I set up my vice in the vertical position with a darning needle. It's the first time I tried this and it seems to work quite well.

I took a length of 5lb mono, tied a figure of 8 knot at the end and loosely bound the line to the quill using a hackle plier to counter balance the weight of the bobbin (so it didn't spin on the needle)

I then applied a small amount of hard as nails to the mono to the left of the figure of 8 knot as shown.



Once dry the two are fused like this..



Not entirely wishing to rely on the small hard as nails bond the idea here is to bind fairly tightly round the quill near the figure of 8 in the mono. The primary reason for that figure of 8 is to provide a lashing point and it is the lashing that we will rely on rather than the varnish to hold the bond.

Next I performed some loose criss-cross wraps around the darning needle, repositioned the quill and mono pair on the needle with the figure of 8 knot on the curve of the point. This gave me the opportunity to wrap tightly in this area to bond the two without fear that the body wouldn't come off later. Some additional criss-cross wraps were then added.



Now I added my two black pheasant tail figures, and layered on deer hair to produce the taper.



I criss crossed this and varnished lightly to provide some strength. At this point we switch to cosmetic dressing so you could adapt this base in any way that you like.

I put in a piece of Pearsall's hot orange for the rib (didn't want wire because of the weight) and dubbed with natural hare. This was then criss crossed before ribbing with the silk since I was nervous that a dub onto a hollow body would be fragile.

The whole lot was then pulled off and trimmed leaving the quill and the drawstring mono.



Drawing up the mono produced the nice curve and this was simply whipped back onto the quill and sealed with varnish to anchor the position.



Rather than spend a considerable amount of time on the rest of the fly, since this was a test pattern, I simply threw on a couple of olive Wonder Wings.



and dressed with natural hare dub for the rear body, olive dyed hair dub for the thorax and added some natural pheasant knotted legs. (first time at knotted some of those up too... I need some better tweezers than the ones on my Swiss Army Knife).

So here it is, my Test Green Drake illustrating the tail curve.



So, candid thoughts on the body technique?

Is it reasonable? over engineered? reliable enough do you think?

Regards,

Andy Smith

Would stick to a Grey Wulff if I were you.

Cheers, that's one that I will add to the list when the hatch starts. I was wondering about the merits of the body technique that I offered here though.

I'm going to do some more experimentation now with dressing material and add switch to Wally Wings if I can get the right feather but in silhouette and material weight I think this, as a detached body, isn't too bad for a first try.

I've played around a lot with detached bodied mayflies, and I have to be honest and say that I'm very doubtful that it will sit on the water how you would like.

Try it on a short shank hook with the body leaving in an upward sweep before the bend.

I would also re-think about how you use your wings and thorax materials to stabilise the fly, I personally don't like it when they lie on there sides.

Sorry for being so critical,

Here is one I had good success with last year. It uses the heavy weight hook as a keel with a hollow made body and a mixture of cdc and deer hair for the thorax. The wings are split to guarantee symmetry and balance to help avoid toppling onto its side.



Cheers
B.

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No Ben, that's all good stuff. Thanks very much for the input.

As a matter of interest what exactly are you using for the Wally Wings in that pattern? (I'm guessing Partridge or Teal).. and what size is that, 14?

I have had some success with Partridge but when I go over to coloured hen hackles the skin off the quill is just too fragile... I was looking for this on the 'realistic' Green Drake project :P, It seems a reasonable technique with some game bird hackles but it's a bit hit and miss with other species.

I feel you have gone to a lot of trouble for us Andy, well done, a nice SBS.
I think as has been said, it may not sit properly on the water, as it is, but if you can improve on the wing pattern then it may well work.
A very good effort, however you look at it, and quite inventive.
Steven.

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Cheers Steven,

On a side note, I do realise that a heavy hackle in silhouette is a great representation of the wings of a spent insect on the water but I wanted to have a go at a more modern and human realistic pattern.

The main thing from the exercise is the tail though. That's what I was concentrating on really. Mounting it on a quick fly was really to be illustrative. Am I working too hard (too long) on the truss rod/bow principle to get the curve? I'm keen as a tier to use natural and traditional materials to get the best representation that I can mind you.

Regards,

-Andy

One final picture to demonstrate that the tail is indeed light weight. Ignoring the rest of the cosmetic dressing right now and how the fly will sit and land. This is about the weight, the curve and the use of natural materials.

lovely looking stuff mate. looks as though you put a lot of thought and effort into it

burhan

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Well past the light
But at the end of the day
It's the end of the day

Burhan

mc_death187@yahoo.com

Great ties fellas. One thing I always tell people is to try and try and then try again. All the while you are learning.
All of these would catch fish.
Here is a 'Danica' pattern with a detached body that I have developed. And I learnt a lot from the exercise. The body is light (foam) but you need an oversized hackle to keep it off the water.

I call it the L'Ombra (Danica). L'Ombra is Italian for shadow and that was the effect I tried to create.
Using the right permanent marker pen and coloured foam you could create a Green Drake.

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