CDC Ducktail BWO
#24 DaiRiki 125
mallard flank
cdc
zelon
14/0 gray thread
Blue Winged Olive is a pretty generic term. The last hatch of the year in Montana tends to be tiny little gray mayflies. Are they Baetis? Pseudoklingons (pseudocloeons)? Extra tiny or not they still provide some of the best fishing of the year. The rivers tend to be almost empty right before freeze-up too, which doubles the pleasure. I had good fishing in late November this year. I almost always fish two flies, with the point fly being a generic gray-colored soft hackle (like DUB's above). Sometimes with and sometimes without a bead. If the beadheads seem to be working I use an October Caddis for the dry fly. Else a Ducktail like this one. When tying itty-bitty dry flies I try to keep it sparse, simple and easy to tie. Tying with a short-shank scud hook de-couples fly size from hook size. So you can use a #22 scud hook and make a large or small fly, depending on what you want. The smaller hooks make these guys feather light and champion floaters. Regardless which dry fly you use, you will catch more fish on the trailing wet fly. This (the wet fly preference) is perhaps more true for BWOs than any other hatch--not counting the late summer, early evening sulfur hatch, which also fishes best as wet. Actually I take that back. Dry fly fishing is fun. And it's easier too, because you get to see the take. But wet flies will (sadly) generally outfish any dry fly for any hatch. PMDs are the best dry fly hatch because those bugs ride on the surface for the logest distance. BWOs ride the surface for a long time too. But I still catch more fish on the wets. For Green Drake and Sulfur hatches the wet fly prefernce is even more pronounced.
This one--although tied on a #24 hook--is closer to a normal #20, if measuring the fly body rather than the hook.
I lash the Zelon crossbar legs loosely (above), and then whip finish behind the eye. Then I pinch the zelon from the sides to splay it out. If it had been lashed on tightly you wouldn't be able to get it to splay out properly. Then I put a micro-dot of thin CA glue where the Zelon attaches (loosely) to the shank. That locks the legs permanently, without losing the splayed-out orientation of the Zelon fibers.
To make precision, pin-point drops of thin CA glue right where you want it, #30 guage PTFE (teflon-family) tubing (caulked in place with hot glue) helps enormously. PTFE tubing caulked into a glue bottle makes what chemists call a "wash bottle." You don't tip the bottle. You squeeze it. You can watch the glue ride up the tube, so you can release pressure just as it reaches the tip. Thereby dispensing almost microscopic dots of CA glue.
#16 guage tubing works better for the thicker ZapAGap. The tubing seldom clogs. But if and when it does, the clogging always happens at the tip of the tubing. So all you have to do is snip off the top 1/64" of the tubing and it's ready to go again. I bought 100' rolls of PTFE tubing many years ago. So I don't stay in touch with current sources. I'll never have to buy it ever again. But I did do a Google search earlier today and saw many links. You don't have to buy 100'. It is good stuff. There is no better way to dispense tiny, accurate pin-point drops of CA glue.
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