Dark Green Drake

Overview

The Dark Green Drake is a mayfly (order Ephemeroptera), often overshadowed by its larger Green Drake relatives. It favors small, heavily canopied, spring-fed brook trout streams in mountain settings, where it can be an important, if less celebrated, hatch. Its body is dark green, with translucent wings that read slightly darker or more opaque than other mayflies. Hook sizes: 8 to 12.

Nymph

Nymphs run 0.75 to 1 inch, dark green to brown, segmented, with a more streamlined build than larger mayfly nymphs. Like their Brown Drake relatives, they're burrowers rather than clingers, favoring soft, silty pockets in cool spring-fed water rather than swift, rocky current, and moving to shallower water as they near emergence. Dead-drifted presentations near structure are effective. Hook sizes: 8 to 12.

Dry/Dun/Spinner

The dun measures about 1 inch, dark green with translucent wings that run slightly darker than the Green Drake's. Emergence is localized to shaded mountain streams, typically in late afternoon or early evening. Dry patterns fish well through the hatch; size down in smaller streams. Hook sizes: 8 to 12.

Curated by the IdentaFly fly fishing team.