FLYMPH FORUM

What do you consider the best recipe for a blue wing olive Flymph or Soft Hackle? I would like to fish as a nymph, emerger and as a
Cripple.
Thanks
Barry

Barry, I had great luck last spring with this fly fished upstream down to me in the film. Trout took it as an emerger. Super fine dry fly dubbing, gray uni thread and a dun hackle. Tied in 16 and 18.

Dave

That depends on what you mean by "Blue Wing Olive" a pattern or an insect, and if the latter, which one? Cornuta? Serratella if you go back to the old vountry? Baetis?

If the last of those, I always use a pheasant tail soft hackle with a mallard covert hackle. Works top to bottom.

That was a cool one. Catskillstyle, flymphstyle, floating nymphstyle. Blue winged hybridae?




dd

I should add that "Blue Winged Olive" is very subjective. We have many shapes, sizes, and color variations that we generically call Olives. This pattern is one that works during a certain time on a certain stream here in Michigan. It seems to check the boxes required while fishing it in that fashion.

Dave

I think we had a swap on here a couple years ago that involved BWO's or at least one of the patterns involved was a BWO. During the reading for that swap I learned that the BWO and the baetis were two different bugs. The BWO is the larger one but the baetis is what's commonly referred to as a BWO.

I'm re-reading Nemes' books now that I'm getting back into fly tying. To counter what I posted above in Nemes's third book he states that latin names should be left to the scientists and fishermen should use the common name. Hence the BWO and the baetis should both be termed BWO's, just different sizes.

I’m going down to the river soon and I hope to collect some bwo’s as samples to accurately id them. Not that I personally think it matters. Seems to me that a good soft hackle or flymph will do the job. The “river” I refer to is the mighty Lower Sacramento River. It’s normally fished with, oh my god, a indicator, twelve foot leader and several AB sized split shot. I am very successful using this method but these days I find it boring and it’s time to switch it up a little so soft hackles it is!
B

It is time to realize that some people are dead wrong when speaking of BWO. The old world has it down right; the BWO fly pattern represents the specie Seratella ignita. Just look for yourselves; https://www.first-nature.com/insects/e- ... ignita.php

Well, there are BWO:s and then there are BWO:s. Agree?

dd

When any of the many species of small olive or brown-olive mayflies with gray wings are about on my home waters, this pattern works very well when tied in a matching size and fished either deeply or near the surface...

Skues' Iron Blue Nymph: