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Yellow Drake
A dry fly, tied #10–12, a summer pattern. It is tied against 2 named insects in this book — June–August.
- #10–12Hook size
- dry flyType
- SummerSeason
- 2Hatches matched
What it looks like
A drawing, not a photograph, and not traced from one. Its proportions were read off 5 independent reference photographs of the pattern and written down as 5 measured characteristics — wing angle, tail length against the shank, how far a hackle fibre reaches — every one of which had to hold across more than one of them before it could be drawn. What survives across many photographs of a fly is the fly.
What it imitates
Each of these is the same hatch record the app's own panel reads, so a pattern recommended on a river card in the app is recommended for one of the insects below.
- Golden Drake Anthopotamus distinctus · July–August · 60–72°F · #10–12
- Yellow Drake Ephemera varia · June–August · 58–70°F · #10–12
Tying recipe
In tying order. This dressing is the standard one — these patterns have been in the publicrecord for decades — and materials substitute freely: the proportions and the silhouette are the pattern, not the brand of dubbing.
| Hook | Long-shank dry-fly hook, sizes 10–12 |
|---|---|
| Thread | Yellow 6/0 |
| Tail | Three moose or pheasant fibres |
| Body | Pale yellow dubbing, lightly ribbed |
| Wings | Barred wood-duck or mottled turkey, upright |
| Hackle | Cream and ginger, mixed |
When to fish it
Full dark on summer evenings. You will not see it — fish it by ear and set on the sound of the take.
A summer pattern. The insects it matches are active june–august, in water from 58°F to 72°F.
Target species
- Trout
Rivers it fishes well
Rivers with a page here that sit in the regions where the insects this pattern imitates are recorded. It is a claim about coverage, not a report of a fish caught.
- Au Sable River northern lower Michigan · July mean 72.1°F
- Catawba River the North Carolina mountains · July mean 76.7°F
- Jackson River the Virginia mountains · July mean 66.3°F
- Muskegon River northern lower Michigan · July mean 71.0°F
- Smith River the Virginia mountains · July mean 51.9°F
- Tygart Valley River the Virginia mountains · July mean 74.6°F
- Kalamazoo River southern lower Michigan · July mean 71.3°F
- Aaron Creek the North Carolina mountains · July mean 76.7°F
- Aaron Run the Virginia mountains · July mean 77.1°F
- Aarons Run the Virginia mountains · July mean 74.2°F
- Abb Run the Virginia mountains · July mean 77.1°F
- Abes Run the Virginia mountains · July mean 71.1°F
Related patterns
Same type of fly, or tied for the same insects.
- White Wulff dry fly · #10–14 — For the August White Fly, and visible in the last five minutes of light.
- Adams (Catskill) dry fly · #12–20 — The original. Rides higher than the parachute in broken water.
- Adult Cranefly dry fly · #10–16 — Long trailing legs, sparse hackle, skittered rather than drifted. Autumn and spring evenings on the bank side.
- Adult Damsel dry fly · #10–14 — Blue or olive extended body on a foam post. For midsummer afternoons on slow weedy water.
- Brown Drake dry fly · #10–12 — Dusk in early June on Michigan and Wisconsin sand-bottom rivers.