Blue Winged Olive!!!

All about flies Fly Tying
1

I am needing to know if anyone has the recipe for this pattern…I am considering a trip to the famed San Juan River in New Mexico and this is just one of the flies recommended.

2

Its a small mayfly pattern in sizes 16 to 26. dun tails,hackle and wings. olive body. some species are betterr represented by a brownish olive body. Try a parachute for fussier trout.

3

There are many variations of BWO out there. My basic go-to BWO is a parachute.

Hook: Dryfly 18-20
Thread: Olive
Tail: Dun hackle fibers of micro fibbets
Wing post: White antron yarn or similar
Body: Grey-olive superfine
Hackle: Medium dun

4

Here’s a couple…http://search.freefind.com/find.html?id=3528604&pid=r&mode=ALL&query=BWO&t=s

5

I fish, primarily a hi vis bwo parachute. Yellow/pink poly yarn post, medium dun hackle, olive or rust and olive mixed superfine dubbing for the body, 2 paint brush bristles splayed for the tail. Carry an assortment from size 14 down to maybe 20 and you should be pretty well covered for dries. Also, some loop winged cdc emergers and little pheasant tails and you will be good to go for those hatches. Bwo hatches are great! A real challenge presenting to fussy trout.

6

Here’s a FOTW, which is a version of the best BWO pattern I’ve fished.

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw2/041309fotw.php

I really like it with the loop wing as shown, but as a practical matter, using an antron wing / post makes for an easier tie and a more durable fly.

This fly produced for me better than any other BWO I’ve tried on a great little tail water fishery in the Central Mountains of Idaho - a river I thought of more as a nymph and midge larva stream until I started using this pattern there.

John

7

Here is a traditional styled BWO.

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw2/082905fotw.php

8

check out some of the patterns from this fishing the san juan river website

http://www.ifly4trout.com/flypatterns.htm

cant go wrong with an adams parachute

9

The San Juan is the Disneyland of trout fishing. When you can stand in waist deep water…and have 18 inch trout swim BETWEEN YOUR LEGS…you stand there in amazement.

One of their saying’s is that the only reason you use a #22…is because you dont have a #24 in your flybox.!!!

10

One of my good producers is a comparadun - 20 to 22, olive, gray, brown. Try tying it with orange poly for the comparadun wing. A must have for baetis is the RS-2, 20-22 in gray, iron gray, or brown or olive. BWO patterns run the gamut, rather than being one certain pattern. But don’t be without your midges. They’re talking of closing the park, including the river, on Christmas Eve, so keep track of that.

11

tiny sparkle dun and tf are my go to dries there.

oh yeah - griffith’s gnat too.

12

Here is a traditional wet fly pattern that I tye and fish with with a ton of success.

http://i462.photobucket.com/albums/qq348/Fontinalis/03-21-09CatskillFly010.jpg

13

Fontinalis,

That is a great tie, only equalled by your wonderful photograph!!

bobbyg

14

Hi,

For a soft hackle pattern, look up the FOTW Water Cricket. Tie the body in olive, and use a more greyish part of the starling feather (tie in further down the feather rather than right at the tip). John Scott came up with that tie and had some success with it on rivers he fished that had a good BWO hatch.

  • Jeff
15

Here is a link to a great number of BWO/ Baetis patterns that I use. Most are nymphs and emergers because in my experience, that is where the majority of the feeding takes place - below or in the surface film…

http://planettrout.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/baetisbwo-more-of-em/

PT/TB

16

TMC 900 BL in 18 or 20, olive dun thread body, natural dun CDC wing. Works well for me down there when the BWOs come off.

Midge version is a 900 BL in 22 or 24, black thread body, xx fine silver wire rib, natural dun CDC wing. The only midge I fished there for several years, back when I fished there.

17

What’s a tf?

18

I typically caught fish in during blue wing olive seasons( spring & fall) on a unweighted
bwo nymph on a short shank size 18 hook. Occationally I could get by with a short shank size 16.

In the morning before the hatch I had good success twisting a little weight above my tippet knot and dead drifting the nymph. After the hatch started in the afternoon I took the weight off my tippet greased it and fished the nymph in the surface film with great success. This bugs seem to like cloudy nasty weather because thge hatches seemed more prolific under those conditions

My nymph is simply a med dark olive fur body tyed short to the hook point. The wing case is 4 black ostrich herl tied in at the eye doubled over and cut off at the 1/3 the lenght of the body. No tails or legs

19

thread fly. thread body cdc loop wing w/ a few fibers pulled out for tail/shuck.

20

Here are two of my favorite BWO patterns. I tie these on size 18-22 DaiRiki 125 emerger hooks

1st pattern is my Fullback/Foamback Emerger:

2nd is my Halfback/Foamback Emerger;

You can watch how I tie this on YouTube at this link: I’m shown tying the PMD version, but a simple change in colors and basic materials and you can get to either a BWO or a midge - works for both.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCwVN64SFes

There are a few variations, but these two catch the majority of fish when fishing baetis and midge hatches during fall, winter and spring.

Kelly.