Blue-winged Olives
Baetis
Tiny Baetis mayflies are perhaps the most commonly encountered and imitated by anglers on all American trout streams due to their great abundance, widespread distribution, and trout-friendly emergence habits.
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This specimen keys to the Epeorus albertae group of species. Of the five species in that group, the two known in Washington state are Epeorus albertae and Epeorus dulciana. Of the two, albertae has been collected in vastly more locations in Washington than dulciana, suggesting it is far more common. On that basis alone I'm tentatively putting this nymph in albertae, with the large caveat that there's no real information to rule out dulciana.
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Martinlf on Feb 23, 2013February 23rd, 2013, 6:11 pm EST
Kurt, you tie beautiful flies. Could you give us the recipe for the olive nymph? I'm especially curious about the wingcase.
"He spread them a yard and a half. 'And every one that got away is this big.'"
--Fred Chappell
--Fred Chappell
Entoman on Feb 23, 2013February 23rd, 2013, 7:47 pm EST
Thanks, Louis. Sure.
Hook - TMC 3761 or 100 depending on the current.
Thread - olive Benecchi 12/0, Danville Spider Web for the tiny ones.
Tails - yellow dyed pheasant tail
Abdomen - light greenish olive fine turkey biot (highlight back w/olive marker)
W/C #1 & eyes - Crow primary
W/C #2 - yellow olive flexibody (transparent stretchy film)
W/C #3 - olive green razor foam (thin sheet closed cell foam)
Thorax - Buggy Nymph dubbing blend
Legs - olive partridge
Directions:
1. Materials go on the hook in the order listed.
2. Wrap the quill past and in front of where the the crow is tied in (which is split and tied at the sides) before tying on the other wingcase materials that should be tied in leaving exposed at least 1 segment of quill.
3. Dub the thorax and rough up the top a little.
4. Splay the dubbing fibers to avoid trapping them and pull the foam over, tie down & trim flush.
5. Tie in the legs delta style.
5. Spruce the splayed dubbing fibers up and cross the crow with the fibers inside. Do not cut the stubs of the crow.
6. Pull the flexibody over and tie down behind the crow stubs. Do not trim the end
7. Tie down the flexibody again in front of the crow stubs right up against the eye. Do not cut the stub.
8. Pull the flexibody back between the crow stubs and tie down behind them at the base of the thorax.
9. Whip finish at the neck, trim the flexifoam stub flush, and trim the crow stubs leaving little 1mm stubs to form the eyes.
Hints:
1.Starting a little in front of the tail tie in point, use thread to make a tapered under-body for the abdomen - the smoother you do this, the better the body will look. Keep it thin - if it looks good before the quill is wrapped, you will end up with an abdomen way too stout. The quill should be tied in angled from the side to avoid folding on the first wrap.
2. Keep the dubbing trapped between the wing cases sparse. The point is to simulate the look of the adult's body stirring below the surface and break up the solid color of the bright foam, not obscure it. It doesn't take much.
3. The flexibody should be a little wider than the foam so the latter is completely covered. 1/2 hook gap is about right. The crow should be a segment about hook gap width, then split in two.
4. Coat the thread with super glue under the quill and the finished thorax with hard-As-Nails. The fly will be indestructable. That is until the tails and legs are chewed off.:)
5. Use as few wraps as possible for each step as none are left without more wraps from later steps to hold everything in place. Usually 3 is enough and sometimes even just 2.
6. The eyes are not optional as they're important to forming the proper head shape. They don't add to the tying time anyway.
7. This fly is really only an Oliver Edwards Baetid Nymph tweaked some. I think he has a DVD that shows the thorax/head construction that is pretty much the same. It would be helpful to watch it.
Hook - TMC 3761 or 100 depending on the current.
Thread - olive Benecchi 12/0, Danville Spider Web for the tiny ones.
Tails - yellow dyed pheasant tail
Abdomen - light greenish olive fine turkey biot (highlight back w/olive marker)
W/C #1 & eyes - Crow primary
W/C #2 - yellow olive flexibody (transparent stretchy film)
W/C #3 - olive green razor foam (thin sheet closed cell foam)
Thorax - Buggy Nymph dubbing blend
Legs - olive partridge
Directions:
1. Materials go on the hook in the order listed.
2. Wrap the quill past and in front of where the the crow is tied in (which is split and tied at the sides) before tying on the other wingcase materials that should be tied in leaving exposed at least 1 segment of quill.
3. Dub the thorax and rough up the top a little.
4. Splay the dubbing fibers to avoid trapping them and pull the foam over, tie down & trim flush.
5. Tie in the legs delta style.
5. Spruce the splayed dubbing fibers up and cross the crow with the fibers inside. Do not cut the stubs of the crow.
6. Pull the flexibody over and tie down behind the crow stubs. Do not trim the end
7. Tie down the flexibody again in front of the crow stubs right up against the eye. Do not cut the stub.
8. Pull the flexibody back between the crow stubs and tie down behind them at the base of the thorax.
9. Whip finish at the neck, trim the flexifoam stub flush, and trim the crow stubs leaving little 1mm stubs to form the eyes.
Hints:
1.Starting a little in front of the tail tie in point, use thread to make a tapered under-body for the abdomen - the smoother you do this, the better the body will look. Keep it thin - if it looks good before the quill is wrapped, you will end up with an abdomen way too stout. The quill should be tied in angled from the side to avoid folding on the first wrap.
2. Keep the dubbing trapped between the wing cases sparse. The point is to simulate the look of the adult's body stirring below the surface and break up the solid color of the bright foam, not obscure it. It doesn't take much.
3. The flexibody should be a little wider than the foam so the latter is completely covered. 1/2 hook gap is about right. The crow should be a segment about hook gap width, then split in two.
4. Coat the thread with super glue under the quill and the finished thorax with hard-As-Nails. The fly will be indestructable. That is until the tails and legs are chewed off.:)
5. Use as few wraps as possible for each step as none are left without more wraps from later steps to hold everything in place. Usually 3 is enough and sometimes even just 2.
6. The eyes are not optional as they're important to forming the proper head shape. They don't add to the tying time anyway.
7. This fly is really only an Oliver Edwards Baetid Nymph tweaked some. I think he has a DVD that shows the thorax/head construction that is pretty much the same. It would be helpful to watch it.
"It's not that I find fishing so important, it's just that I find all other endeavors of Man equally unimportant... And not nearly as much fun!" Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Fisherman
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