The blue-winged olives of fall are usually considerably smaller than those mayflies that hatch earlier in the year, so it pays to have imitations that are easy to tie on tiny hooks. In this great video by Tim Flagler of Tightline Productions, author and blogger Matt Grobert teaches you how to tie a very elegant, buggy BWO pattern that uses just two materials: dubbing and CDC. Matt demonstrates the best way to choose CDC feathers for wrapping, and his thread-management techniques are also illuminating. The result is a slim, small BWO fly that will surely tempt finicky fall trout.
Make sure watch Tim’s videos in full 4K resolution. You’ve never seen fly tying look so good.
Puff Daddy Blue-Winged Olive
Hook: Barbless dry-fly hook (here, a Hanák H100BL), size 18.
Thread: Olive, 6/0 or 140-denier.
Body: Olive Australian possum dubbing.
Wing: Natural dun CDC (thin stem).