Roberts' Brown Drake (Clipped Body)

This is another of Clarence Roberts' commercial patterns, sold by 1952. It has no dubbing or deer hair in the body. Brown hackle is wound over the whole shank, then the back half is trimmed short and tapered so it reads as a body while the front half still holds the fly up.

The large hook and white spent wings suit a fly fished late in the evening and into the dark, when anglers need to see it. Roberts also tied a gray version with grizzly hackle for night fishing.