Hook Size: 8/10
The Perfect Fly Eastern Green Drake Spinner is a imitation of the spinner stage of life of the mayfly. Once the dun reaches the banks, trees or bushes, it molts into a spinner, or the sexually mature adult. The males and females return to the water and mate in mid air, and eventually fall dead on the surface of the water where trout can easily dine on them. It should be fished on the surface and treated with floatant.
Normally, the spinner fall of the Green Drake hatch is the big event of the hatch. The
Green Drake spinner, called the coffin fly, is an altogether different looking mayfly from
the dun. The female spinners are much larger than the males. Spinners begin to appear
just before dark, earlier if it is cloudy, with the males showing up first and the females
joining them later. The event usually will last for only an hour or so. After mating, the
females lay their eggs by dipping their bellies on the surface of the water. In addition to
the females, the males usually land and depart the water before dieing. It is during this
time that the trout usually go crazy over them. After the females have lost their eggs, the
trout sometimes show a preference for the male spinners.
Spinner Presentation:
Most of the time the spinners fall during the evenings. On cloudy, rainy days, you may
find the spinner fall occurring in the late afternoon before sunset. At times it is effective to
imitate the male spinners as well as the female’s egg laying process. That is why we
have two spinner patterns – a male and a female spinner. Both can be effective. We think
it may be determined by the number of the males and females on the water but that is
pure speculation. What does at least seem to be the situation is that trout prefer the
males over the females at times. They do look completely different. They are different
sizes and colors.
A downstream presentation may be necessary in smooth water Since you will be fishing
in a low light situation, an eight foot leader, with a two, foot long 4X tippet would probably
work well enough. The trout we have caught on the Green Drake spinner fall in
Pennsylvania’s spring creeks (and that is a bunch of them) took the imitation as if they
wanted to kill it. Even after dark, they will hit the spinners with a loud noise. They will
usually set the hook themselves.
Copyright 2013 James Marsh
