Hey ya'll, welcome to Match the Hatch! For May’s Match The Hatch we're going to be talking about Drakes!
There are several different kinds of Drakes, but this post is largely about Western Green Drakes. Two species in particular, Drunella Grandis and Drunella Dodsi.
These two Drakes can be found from late May to July throughout the West. The trick with these two is that their hatch window can be very short and largely dependent on weather. They usually hatch in mid morning to mid afternoon. Cooler overcast days can sometimes prolong the hatch lengths and require the bugs to drift longer to dry their wings.
Green Drakes are fantastic clingers and are built for faster currents. Look for hatches to be below fast white water. I believe the faster water causes more damage to emerging nymphs, so it lends itself to fishing more cripple patterns than duns. If you're seeing slashing rises but no visible bugs on the surface, they're eating cripples and emergers. Green Drake spinners are often a late evening or night affair and not worth tying patterns for. The body colors of both green Drakes are olive-brown with yellow tones, but the recently emerged bugs tend to be lighter in color.
The two nymphs I use for Green Drakes are an olive Hares Ear or a Mercers Poxyback, both in size 8-10. My go-to dry flys are olive Quigley Cripples, Sparkle Duns, Carnage Green Drakes, and sometimes even a Neversink Green Drake.
Colby Olson