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3. Olives

We're seeing blue wing olives on local spring creeks, but on at least one the hatch has been sporadic so far. The first day I saw them there the weather was colder, in the 40's, and cloudy. Fishing was pretty good that day, despite a somewhat sparse and brief hatch. Then the weather brightened and got warmer, climbing into the 50's, 60, and finally 70's. Fishing was poor for everyone I talked with on those days, and folks said that like me, they didn't see many olives. It didn't help (in terms of the fishing) that it also got breezy. Some writers claim olives hatch equally on warm bright days and on cooler dreary days, or that even more hatch on sunny days everything else being equal. These folks say they just get off the water faster on bright warm days, so the fishing isn't as good, but my experience is that more olives (the early baetids anyway) actually hatch in cooler, darker, and especially drizzly or rainy weather. Can anyone shed some light on this topic?

Louis, I am with you on this subject. The best BWO hatches I have experienced have been in the Fall on the Madison River. The weather is always cold and crappy when the olives start to really pop.