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| Yellow Occi ~ Steven Bird |
It’s good to be a Northern
man enjoying a normal trout country June of mixed sun & cloud with
temperatures hovering in the seventies. The kind of weather that brings up good
mayfly hatches. Can’t remember seeing March browns as thick as they are this
season. It’s been about fifteen years since an upstream smelter quit dumping toxic
waste into my home water, & mayflies, & mayfly species, are on the
increase. And a new one this year, when, suddenly, Siphlonurus occidentalis (Gray Drake or Yellow Drake) put in a surprise appearance, hatching
in strong numbers, early to late evening. A happy occurrence, turns out.
Depending on location, adults
may be gray or yellow. The elegant UC dun is buttery-yellow all over, with long,
light gray wings. The bodies are long & slender; fairly replicated dressed
on a #12 TMC 200R, or other 3x-long hook. To avoid confusion with the more
widespread Eastern yellow drake (Ephemera
varia), & the gray mode of the same species, I’ve dubbed the local
model ‘yellow occi’.
Though not as widespread as
its East/Midwest cousin, the western yellow drake does produce major,
long-duration hatches on certain Columbia tributaries, as well, apparently, as
the Columbia/American Reach mainstem. Like the eastern model, yellow occi is
long on the water, spindly & easily tumbled – & for that reason, as
well as the ease a wetfly affords in fishing near-dark until dark when these
mayflies are most prevalent, I’ve found the wet version fairly handy.
Yellow Occi
Hook: #12 TMC 200R
Thread: yellow UNI 8/0
Tails: barred lemon wood duck
Body: blend 3 equal parts
Wapsi Superfine sulfur yellow; creamy-yellow poly yarn; bright yellow poly yarn
– dubbed on a loop of the tying thread
Hackle: yellow hen
