A friend of mine, who doesn’t do much on the computer, asked me if I could find anything about a fly called the Olive Badger. He says it is an older fly, made with materials that are no longer available. He has the recipe for it, but would be interested in a picture so that he knew what it looked like. I’m not sure if he wants to try to replicate it, or just satisfy his curiosity. I’ve tried to google it, but haven’t been able to come up with anything. Is anyone familiar with this fly that could help us out? Thanks.
CJ
here is one
and a second
and a [pic of the hackle](http://featheremporium.com/images/hackle/dry fly/saddles/badgers/olive_lg.gif)
and a pic of [lighter badger hackle](http://featheremporium.com/images/hackle/dry fly/saddles/badgers/lt-olive_lg.gif)
However, in [this book](http://books.google.ca/books?id=zaP74hiL3hIC&pg=PA702&lpg=PA702&dq=olive+badger+fly&source=bl&ots=8n-v4ylM-3&sig=Ww4JQQSLhOWuGVBBjb_iOwCGWq4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=48sLT_-GKMnh0QGj2r2GBg&sqi=2&ved=0CD4Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=olive badger fly&f=false) on page 163 is a wet fly pattern for an Olive Badger that uses Badger fur/hair in a dubbing loop, wrapped as a hackle (I presume at the head of the fly) with an olive body - quite a simple fly actually. The history of hair hackle flies is on page 162. Although almost all the book is shown online (free patterns anyone?), colour Plate 3 showing a picture of the fly does not seem to be included.
When I went after trout 20-plus years ago the old guy that taught me fly tying had badger flies. The second on the above post is pretty close except he used a red thread. The badger feather was black on the inside, then cream or white with black tips on all along the edge of the feather. He also used grade B hen necks because it was a wet fly and the feathers were much shorter. It was our “go to” fly and we tied it from size 14 to 4. The larger flies were used for night fishing.
Thanks, guys. The second picture turned out to match the recipe that he had. He was trying it with a grizzly hackle just to see what it looked like. Looked pretty good.
Thanks again.
CJ
“Olive badger don’t care”. If anyone can infer to what that refers to, I will be mildly surprised.
neither does the Honey Badger!
What I wonder is where the quote originated, and why it is included here. I have re-read every part of the thread and see no instance of it (other than in your question).
Honey Badger wins the prize.