This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Mike Mercers Poxyback Green Drake Nymph.
I’m tying this fly to complete a fly order and thought Mercer’s Poxyback Green Drake nymph was a great candidate for a TBT post.
I found this fly pattern several years ago in Mike Mercer’s Creative Fly Tying (2005) book.
Mercer writes he was fly fishing with friends that were catching fish when he wasn’t. Turns out his fishing partner was using a nymph with a wingcase coated with head cement.
That got him thinking. Mercer is known as a fly developer and I think this nymph is exceptional. He writes that he started with a Pheasant Tail Nymph and made changes from there.
Two noticeable attributes of the fly are the wingcase and gills. The wingcase is coated with epoxy (I use UV resin), which emulates a natural mayfly nymph wingcase before it is ready to hatch. The gills are the aftershaft feather of an olive-dyed ringneck pheasant rump.
Here is a natural Green Drake nymph from my beloved river, the Metolius.
Enjoy…go fish, stay safe!
John, I told our fly fishing club about your site at our board meeting last night. They asked if you would be willing to join us (via zoom) as guest speaker to talk about your tying, your site, and your experience in tying and fishing?
Our administrator would setup the zoom connection and bein touch with you prior.