Green Drake Dry (Nealley)

Hook: Dry Fly 2X Long, Size 10
Thread: Yellow 3-0
Tail: Moose Mane
Overbody: Brown or Natural Deer
Rib: Brown Thread 3-0 or Size A
Abdomen: Light Yellow or Olive Poly Dubbing
Legs: Sili-legs, speckled
Wing: Dark or Yellow Deer Belly

Step 1: Mount your hook in the vise and wrap the thread to the bend of the hook.

Step 2: Select about 6 strands of moose mane, even up and tie in.

Step 3: Tie in the ribbing and bind down the butts of the tails.

Step 4: Select your deer hair for the overbody and tie in by the tips.

Step 5: Dub a slightly tapered body.

Step 6: Keeping all the hair on top of the hook, bring the deer hair forward and tie down.

Step 7: Rib the abdomen. Tie of the rib with a couple thread wraps, then trim the butts of the deer hair.

Step 8: Tie in the Sili-legs. I start on the far side of the hook by rotating the vise. Then I tie in the near side. Don’t worry about the length, you’ll trim them after finishing the fly.

Step 9: Tie in the deer belly hair for the wing. Try for about 1 to 1 1/2 shank length for the height of the wing.

Step 10: Trim the butts of the hair, leaving a stump of hair behind the wing. If you are like me, you might be thinking, “Why not wrap some hackle, parachute style, to make this more of a cripple pattern? My answer, while not official in any sense, is that this is not a cripple. It is a low riding dry fly. But if you want to add the hackle, go right ahead.

Step 11: Trim the legs to length. I hold the front two and trim them; then the back, leaving the back slightly longer than the front. And then you are done.

Here is the view from the bottom.

Here is the view from the top.