Something unusual ...

[JohnScott]

... down memory lane back into the past Fly Tying Forum threads, all the way back to August 2008.

There is a thread that month on my initial efforts to create an FEB green drake with tails. Both of those initial efforts are discussed in some detail, and early in that thread Duck brought up the approach of "furling off the hook," which was the first step that ultimately ennabled incorporating tails in an FEB ( several years later ). If you are interested in the details ( and how some of the older threads on this Forum involved so many people participating in the discussion ) go to page 430 of the Forum.

My search for that thread actually started with a recollection that I had fished an FEB green drake on a very memorable day on the Big Elk Creek in SE Idaho. A few days earlier than the day recollected, I had fished the green drake hatch on that creek. At one hole, a large cutthroat ( Snake River Cutthroat ) was rising regularly to naturals, but wouldn't even look at any pattern I drifted over it.

That is when I decided to come up with a new FEB pattern to try on my next outing on that creek, whenever that might happen. Those are the patterns discussed in the August 2008 thread. The newer version, which I called Plan B, was the second rendition and the one I was to fish the next time out.

A couple days after tying Plan B, I headed off to Western Wyoming on an overnight trip to fish the Grey's River the first day, and to hike up to the Summit of Wyoming Peak, the high point of the Wyoming Range, on day two. The fishing was great on day one, but as it turned out on day two, I couldn't find the right forest road off the Grey's River Road to take to the trailhead for the Wyoming Peak hike. So ... on the way home, I decided to hike up Big Elk and try to catch that big old cutt that gave me the cold shoulder a few days earlier.

I hiked into the right spot way too early, and sat on the bank for something like an hour and a half before the green drake hatch got going. In a short while, the cutt showed it self, rising for a natural. I timed his rise, and on the second drift of the Plan B green drake over his feeding lane he took it. Mission accomplished.

For a variety of reasons, including my move to Western Montana the following year, I didn't have much opportunity to fish a green drake hatch. But when that opportunity arose on my home water in Northern Idaho, it was time to give the concept of tails incorporated in an FEB another go. And it went nicely.

John