Western Green Drake Dun

Title:

Price:

$2.75

Product Category:

Mayflies

SKU:

M501D-10

The Western Green Drake is one of the largest mayflies found in the West providing one of the greatest hatches in the West. They can be found in almost all Western streams and the hatch times vary depending on the elevations. The Western Green Drake Dun is a large mayfly that floats on the surface of the water for several seconds or even a minute before taking flight. This provides a great opportunity for some excellent dry fly fishing.

The trout love to feed on them in all stages, duns, nymphs, emergers and spinners. They exist mainly in the cold highly oxygenated water. The hatch can be very short, only a couple of days, and starts about when the water temperature reaches fifty degrees Fahrenheit. On sunny days, the hatch can be brief only lasting for an hour or two. However, on cloudy days the hatch can last for three or even four hours.

To take full advantage of the hatches, it is necessary to understand that there are two major species of these aquatic insects. They are the grandis and the doddsi species as well as other subspecies in the Drunella genus. The grandis hatch usually occurs about a week or more before and often in slower water the doddsi species. The grandis duns, nymphs, emergers and spinners are a little larger in size so we have Perfect Flies in hook size 10.

The doddsi species seems to prefer higher elevations and faster water. The species can best be differentiated by examining the nymphs and determining the size.

Presentation:

It is relatively easy to spot individual trout rising to take the duns as they are drying their wings. If the water is fast as with some packet water, it may be a little more difficult to spot the trout eating. Focus on the pockets of slower moving water near the fast water runs and riffles. If you are fishing pocket water, the preferred presentation is a short upstream cast to the calmer areas of water.

The leaders should be long with a three foot 4X or 5X tippet for most conditions but lighten up the tippet and lengthen the leader when fishing smooth water. In smooth water, we use an up and across presentation if it can be accomplished without spooking the trout. A reach cast is sometimes preferred for this scenario. When it is not possible to approach the trout without their spooking, then a down and across presentation would be preferred.