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Rene Harrop’s soft-hackle Green Drake is a killing pattern on the Henry’s Fork, and wherever else western green drakes are hatching. Frankly, the first time I saw this fly I was skeptical. The color looked right, but it seemed too sparse overall, the body too thin – the natural nymph being fairly robust and widest at the head, a teardrop shaped clinger. Then I saw the fly wet, and the elements of good design became clear. When the hackle flows back over the short thorax it contributes to add body mass (moving body mass) and the whole thing becomes unitized, assuming the natural’s shape. The pattern relies on solid principals of good soft-hackle design: simplicity; motion; light; obfuscation; profile. The design serves to simulate a fairly large insect, yet with very little bulk to buoy and sail the fly. It penetrates the surface film immediately, hovers on the sink, and tracks well.
Hook: #10 TMC 200R for surface; #8 2x long, or #6 standard wetfly for fishing deeper
Thread: yellow UNI 8/0
Hackle: golden (yellow-y) olive grizzly hen
Tail: gadwall flank penned olive
Abdomen: olive turkey biot (or pen a yellow biot with olive, leaving a yellow edge)
Thorax: 50/50 gray rabbit and olive antron
