The Best Anglers Never Stop Learning
The Best Anglers Never Stop Learning
Blue Wing Olive
Easy - 1-3 Min
Coldwater
This patterns best variations are in the different dubbing colors. Keeping nearly everything else the same, you can mix dubbing colors to make PMD emergers, BWO emergers, Hendrickson emergers etc to imitate whichever species of mayfly you expect to see on your river. Adding flash on the back is the other common variation. I like to tie these in 2 dozen increments and do the following:
This gives you 2 dozen flies, half flashback half natural, in 3 different colors and 2 different sizes and 2 of each fly. This is just how I like to do it, but I find it’s a great way to stock your box with only 24 hooks needed.
This fly is highly imitative to emerging mayflies and fools selective trout. It can be fished as a nymph or as an emerger depending on where you see trout feed in the water column. It’s not as versatile as the more impressionistic patterns, but it’s deadly accurate to what it imitates when you choose the right color for your seasons and waters. This is the sniper rifle of the emerger world and only gets more effective the smaller the sizes you go, especially on tailwaters. It’s simple enough to tie on small hooks down to a #24 making it great for any time of the year when trout are eating smaller insects (Fall through winter into early spring)
I don’t fish this pattern as often as I should, but usually I’ll tie one on after I get fish refusing my dry fly on the BWO hatch. (BWO, Blue Wing Olive and Baetis are all the same insect FYI) I’ll usually tie it off as a dropper to my existing dry fly with 18-36 inches of one lighter ‘x’ of tippet than whatever’s on my dry fly. (ex if I have 5x tied to my dry fly I’ll use 6x) This usually produces quickly for me as fish are often more willing to take emergers than dries even during a hatch. This is why I should start with the emerger dropper instead of tying it on after I get frustrated with no fish :), maybe I’ll learn now that I’ve voiced it to all of you.
| Regional Hatch Chart | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
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Region: West
Blue Wing Olive Sizes: #16 - #24
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Region: Northwest
Blue Wing Olive Sizes: #16 - #24
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Region: East
Blue Wing Olive Sizes: #16 - #24
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Region: Southeast
Blue Wing Olive Sizes: #16 - #24
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Region: Midwest
Blue Wing Olive Sizes: #16 - #24
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Copyright © 2003 – 2025 MidCurrent LLC, All Rights Reserved.