Small Western Green Drake

All about flies Fly Tying
1

Can’t get to the Henry’s Fork 'till August this year, but still tying the Flavs.

This one is similar to the pattern Bob Jacklin ties.

2

Educate me Byron, what is a flav… I’ve been seeing that term used a lot and not really sure what it means. Am I having a idiot moment?

3

Hi,
It is just the Scientific short-hand name for the Drunella flavilinea which is a Small Western Green Drake.

4

Got ya, thanks

5

Hey byron ! How about an SBS on this one or at least a recipe ? Looks like it would work here in Colorado and its almost green drake time.Paddy

6

Paddy,
Here’s the Master tying the larger version…the Green Drake.
I used slightly different coloration/materials, but it is basically the same pattern.
Hope this helps.

http://youtu.be/-Xzw8PuB_yg

7

What Bob Jacklin is tying in the video is a Drunella grandis pattern (Green Drake) and he states that at the end of the piece …

Here are the differences between the Green Drake and the Lesser Green Drake (or Flav)…lesser meaning they are smaller…

Lesser Green Drake (Flav):

http://www.west-fly-fishing.com/entomology/mayfly/flav.shtml

Green Drake:

[http://www.west-fly-fishing.com/entomology/mayfly/green-drake.shtml

T](http://www.west-fly-fishing.com/entomology/mayfly/green-drake.shtml)his is a Green Drake Pattern tied by the late Shane Stalcup for the Frying Pan River in CO…they are different in color than the standard Green Drake. A.K. Best also ties a pattern just for this river:

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw2/012703fotw.php

More:

[http://flycurrents.blogspot.com/2006/08/fishing-green-drakes-in-ro_115524844095724342.html

P](http://flycurrents.blogspot.com/2006/08/fishing-green-drakes-in-ro_115524844095724342.html)T/TB

8

PT
I said, in the post with his video “tying the larger version…the Green Drake”.
I hope folks weren’t confused between the two. I tie and fish both in late June/early July.

9

:razz:Byron,

Yes, ya’ did. I posted the distinction because some folks get confused between the two bugs…one is not the other…:razz:

PT/TB

10

yes, not the same bugs. However, most (I fish with) tend to tie the same general pattern in two different sizes …10-12 for Drunella and 14 for Flav…my experience only, of course…

11

Around Colorado, many people refer to both as “Green Drakes”. Even in flyshops, when staff says that drakes are hatching, and I ask if they are flavs or flavilineas, I often get a blank look. So now I just ask what size. Like Byron, I use the same patterns in different sizes for both.

To make ID’s more complex, we have drunella coloradensis which is called small western green drake. They are the same size and color as flavs. Luckily, the trout don’t seem to care, so I don’t try to make the distinction. I just call the smaller ones flavs, and the larger drakes.

Oddly, sometimes a Royal Wulff will work better than more imitative patterns.

I’ll try the Jacklin pattern this summer. I hadn’t realized that he used hackle and hairwing until I saw Byron’s photo.

Thanks