We might as well stik with Dub’s idea of Blue Wing Olives. I’m sorry about the glare in the picture but i can’t re-shoot it. The fly is lost in my carpet along with the wonderwing version I was trying to compare it to side by side. The up eyed hook is just because they were a good deal. I’m not sure they help much with hookups.
Just hackle fiber tails, a blend of of olive and brown dubbing and a speck of snowshoe foot on #20 94842.
… which emerged from a BWO nymph tied only with CDL fibers. Follow the link for some background and the recipe for this little guy which has a taste for big fishies. :shock:
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw2/041309fotw.php
John
After Marc Petitjean.
Cheers,
C.
In the style of Marc Petitjean.
This style of fly is great in that you can just change the colours and size to imitate any upwing. They land very gently when cast, and float well.
Cheers,
A.
OLIVE SOFT HACKLES
Hook - Mustad 3906B size 14 thru 18
Thread - Camel 8/0 Uni
Tail - Brown Partridge or Brown Hen Hackle (I used both on these flys)
Rib - Small UTC wire in Hot Yellow or Gold (I used both on these flys)
Abdomen - Small Olive D-Rib or Midge Tubing (Top is covered with Forest Green Permanent Marker)
Thorax - Olive Rabbit Fur slightly teased out
Collar - Light Dun or Light Brown Hen Hackle (I used both on these flys)
When the BWO’s come out, I fish these as an emerger, or I grease my tippet and fish them as a cripple in the film.
Two of my favorite emergers…
BAT WING BAETIS EMERGER…Tracy Petersen…#16-#20…this is a #20
THREAD: Gordon Griffith?s 14/0, Gray or Olive, Tiemco 16/0 Gray
HOOK: TMC 2487 or Daiichi 1130, #16-#20
TAIL: Dun Hen Hackle Barbs
ABDOMEN:BWO or Olive Goose Biot ( I use Stalcup’s)…it may be tied fringed or flat
WING: Fluffy, butt end of a Dun Hen feather, mounted convex side up and pulled over Abdomen and Bead
ABDOMEN:Brown or Dk. Tan Beaver
BEAD: Gun Metal Glass or Black Metal sized to hook
GRAY DAY BAETIS EMERGER…Murphy/ Variant…
HOOK:Gamakatsu R10-B #16-#20
THREAD: Tiemco 16/0, Gray
SHUCK: Hi-Vis, #16, Medium Gray
RIB: UTC Ultra Wire, x-sm, Silver
ABDOMEN: Pheasant Tail, Muskrat Gray, Nature’s Spirit
THORAX: Ostrich Herl, Natural Gray
WING CASE/LEGS: 6 strands, Midge Flash, Black - pulled over and separated
PT/TB 
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.
This pattern is a variation on Gary LaFontaine’s Duck Butt Dun. The difference is in the wing. I add CDC behind the deer hair.
Hook: Size 18 Orvis Ultimate Dry Fly Hook
Trailing Shuck: Light Olive CDC
Body: Superfine Dry Fly Dubbing
Wing: Deer Hair; followed by Dun CDC
This is one of my favorite emerger patterns… just grease the hackle and wing and enjoy!
Hook: MFCo. light scud #16-20
Thread: 8/0 Uni olive
Tail/Shuck: Bronze nylon yarn
Abdomen: dyed turkey vane-biot in BWO
Wing Post: seatbelt material (or gray nylon yarn, etc.)
Hackle: Med. Dun rooster clipped on the bottom
Note: works in PMD and Sulpher colors too…
Nice Doug
Does it float in the dun position or hang a little?
Dub,
I really like those olive soft hackles.
Ed
Byron if you grease just the hackle and wing she floats with the abdomen hanging down…
Barr’s Viz-a-dun
Easy to tie, floats well, visible
[ul]
[li]Hook: Dai-Riki 320 18
[/li][li]Thread: Gudebrod 10/0 Grey
[/li][li]Tail: Dun hackle fibers
[/li][li]Abdomen: Grey/olive Biot
[/li][li]Wing: Congo Hair Silver
[/li][li]Thorax: Dubbing grey/olive
[/li][li]Hackle: Dun (trimmed on bottom to form “V” notch)
[/li][/ul]
Regards,
Scott
The fly you call a BWO seems to be a bit different to the ones we have over here. Ours wouldn’t be smaller than a 16 at its smallest. More commonly a size 14. Thats why I tied that one of mine on a 14. Makes a change something being bigger this side of the big pond.
Cheers,
A.
Ours are size #18 at the biggest. More commonly #20 or smaller. Hook size is often misleading. We’re only a few months away from Spring BWO time. I hope to capture some and measure them next chance I get. But ours do vary considerably in size, from tiny to infinitesimal.
Alan,
Seems there are a bunch of different bugs that get lumped under that name. The local freestone stream has a greyish-bodied mayfly that I’ve seen in the spring that’s at least a #16; later in the year I’ve seen a few down to size #18. On the Yellowstone and Poindexter Slough last spring, most of them were #18-20 (managed to catch a few on #18 emergers); Firehole and Missouri last fall, I saw them from #20-24, definitely leaning towards the smaller end (I didn’t fish anything smaller than a #20 and caught fish).
Regards,
Scott
This was a fly I did some time ago. I just wanted a small flie (spent) and then realized it would make a nice BWO if the tail were longer.
One more of the same pattern, but with a more traditional color for the abdomen/thorax. Size 18
Luke Mcleod’s post in another thread reminded me that this still works most of the time. Of course in a #20 like this I would just as soon forget about it. Bryan, can you choose a fly for next week.
Size 24 no hackle A pain to keep afloat and to tie but worth carrying
