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Brown Drake Nymph Pattern

Sometime in June in northern Wisconsin as the daylight begins to fade big brownish mayfly nymphs will begin to crawl out of the silt and muck and wiggle their way to the surface. These nymphs are the brown drake (Ephemera simulans) and can be found in many of the northern Wisconsin trout streams. For the brown drake nymph pattern I prefer to use a curved hook and a dubbing loop to make the abdomen more fluffy like the natural's gill plates. Click here for the Brown Drake hatch.

Hook: Partridge 15BN size #14 or similar
Thread: Uni-thread 8/0 Black or Dark Brown
Tail: Grouse fibers
Body: Medium yellowish-brown Hare's ear (spun with dubbing loop)
Ribbing: Pearsall's Silk Brown Thread or similar
Wingcase: Dark Mallard wing
Legs: Mallard shoulder feather or dark grouse feather

The Partridge 15BN size #14 is a big hook, a similar hook size would be a Mustad 9672 size #10.
Mallard shoulder feathers have a thicker barbs which I like for these bigger nymphs.
The burrowing brown drake nymphs have flared feathery gills along the sides of the abdomen, so a dubbing loop helps give a simialr effect to the nymph imitation.

Brown Drake Emerger Pattern

This is really similar to the nymph pattern except the mallard shoulder feather is wrapped all the way around the hook so it becomes a soft hackle pattern. The emerging brown drakes are flopping all over on the surface as they try to escape their nymphal shucks and dry their wings.

Hook: Partridge 15BN size #14 or similar
Thread: Uni-thread 8/0 Black or Dark Brown
Tail: Fluffy fibers from a grayish-brown hen feather, CDC fibers, or Grouse fibers
Body: Medium yellowish-brown Hare's ear (spun with dubbing loop)
Ribbing: Pearsall's Silk Yellow Thread or similar
Thorax: Can be a little more reddish brown fur and tied bulkier
Legs: Mallard shoulder feather or dark grouse feather

The Partridge 15BN size #14 is a big hook, a similar hook size would be a Mustad 9672 size #10.
Mallard shoulder feathers have a thicker barbs which I like for these bigger soft hackles.

For a floating Brown Drake emerger try using a #12 dry fly hook and an extended body. I use #30 lb. monofilament to extend the body. This helps the soft hackle fly float better and looks more like a struggling Brown Drake dun trying to get its wings upright and dry. For the pattern below I used Natures Spirit #18 Dark Honey for the body and Coq De Leon fibers for the tail.

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Brown Drake CDC Emerger Pattern

Same as the above brown drake emerger pattern except with a CDC wing added and tail slightly different just for a change.

Hook: Partridge 15BN size #14 or similar
Thread: Uni-thread 8/0 Black or Dark Brown
Tail: Coq De Leon tail fibers and some fine zelon fiber strands
Body: Medium yellowish-brown Hare's ear (spun with dubbing loop)
Ribbing: Pearsall's Silk Yellow Thread or similar
Thorax: Can be a little more reddish brown fur and tied bulkier
Wing: CDC Dark Dun
Legs: Mallard shoulder feather or dark grouse feather

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