I agree Wally with your observations regarding the hatching characteristics of these bugs. On the upper snake river system in WWY we do not really have significant hatches of the classic Green Drake that is famous on the Henry's Fork, those flies are a bright yellow green when they first hatch out. Our drakes do not start popping until mid September and color wise they are gray olive, basically the color of an oversize fall baetis, although they are a different family of Mayflies. Most of the time the really big Cutties want an emerger several inches under the surface, this looks like a winner that will go in my box. Question, do you ever brighten it up with some flash wound between the ribs on the body and have you ever considered a tuff of muskrat fur minus the guard hairs for the emerging wings?
To tell you the truth, this is only the third or fourth of these I'd ever tied, and the rest were in preparation for the video. Parks bought them from Dan Bailey's until last season when Bailey shifted to Kenyan production for their wholesale flies. (Kenyan flies are trash. Sri Lanka is probably tops for offshore production right now. That's where Umpqua ties their flies.) Flash could work, though the reason I never tried it was because the original worked so well. As far as a CDC replacement, I think anything that would breathe well that's the same color would work 100% the same as the CDC. I will probably try something like marabou next, partially because my natural dun CDC is so raggedy.
