Materials List: Green Drake, extended body

Hook: TMC 5212 10-14.

Thread: Olive 6/0.

Tail: Moose Mane, 3 hairs black.

Body: Deer Hair, Olive/ Gudebrod EZ Dub small.

Rib: Tying thread.

Hackle: Grizzly.

1. We start with our traditional tie in but you don't want to wrap back very far and you want to make sure the wraps are tight! You want to start tying in material half way on the shank so stop there with your tie in.

2. Tie in the Moose mane next. It's length needs to be longer than the finished extended body which you've not tied in yet. Personally, I look at the mane and tie it in at the length that looks right. You can find varying formulas how long it should be in other recipes, most common is twice the length of the shank. Once the mane is tied in, clip off excess.

3. The deer hair comes in next. It is tied in in the direction you see because it is folded back over itself to create the extended body. The way measure it for length is how you see here. You can see the Moose mane against my thumbnail. I leave just a little of the mane showing when figuring my pinch point which becomes my tie in point. Once that is determined, place the prepared deer hair (it's been combed out and stacked) on the shank and make two semi-tight wraps around the stack. Once done, only slightly work the stack around the shank but don't completely encircle the shank. Now make a couple more tight wraps and cinch down on the deer hair.

4. With care, trim the excess hair at the rear of the tie in. Use care not to cut the Moose mane even though you can tie in some mane if you do by accident. Once excess is removed, tie down the bundle ends down tight!

5. With the hair tied on, brush the hairs back. Don't try to do it with one push, take time to carefully fold the hair back on itself. I make many pull backs on the hair to get it back into a smooth unit. This makes a big difference in actually wrapping the extension.

6. Once you've got the hair all pulled back, wrap the hair just behind were the fold in the hair is on the shank. Make these wraps pretty tight. Next, this is important, wrapping the thread in the same direction as you've been doing everything else, makes two warps on the extension itself right at its base. This starts to form the hair extension and makes the rest of the extension wrapping a lot easier!

7. Now wrap up and down the extended body. Take your time and don't rush it. You'll have to move your left hand a little, let go of the bodkin and hold the wraps with your finger tips to get the right looking segments. When you've gotten to the top of the extended body on the first pass, remember to first leave enough loose hair to finish off the tail and then make a couple of circular wraps at that point before wrapping back down the extension. All the wraps except these tips wraps are not real tight. Wrap back down the extended body and take the thread to right in front of the deer hair. Flaring out the deer hair at the tip gives it its finished look.

8. I now secure my wraps with a little head cement and Krazy glue. I place a drop of head cement on the last two wraps on the extended body, the wraps that go around a couple of times. I do that because I've found that my big finger can easily pull these wraps off when I'm tying the fly onto the tippet. The head cement prevents this. The Krazy glue keeps the extended body in place on the shank better then excess wrapping.

9. It only takes a couple of wraps of the dubbing to finish off the body that was started with the deer hair. A simple, clean taper is all that is required.

10. Tie in your grizzly hackle, advance the thread to the eye of the hook, wrap the hackle and then tie it off and make the head. I've found that the trout in my favorite hole like a little more bushy than not hackle, found that out by making a couple variations. I suggest you do the same.

11. And with that, the Green Drake extended body is complete. This cool looking fly might scare off some but once you tie one, you'll find you can whip them out pretty darn fast!

Photographic note: