With March finally here, and the worst of this winter weather hopefully behind us, we’re putting our focus on the highly anticipated arrival of opening day for trout. Here at Black Gnats HQ, that means brushing up on our early season hatches. For a large number of streams in the Central PA area (and a lot of the east coast) the first bug imitation you’ll pull a dry for is the Blue Winged Olive (BWO, for short). Here, Tim Flagler at Tightlines Productions shows viewers how to pull off a great BWO pattern using materials like CDC and grey dun hackle.

Be sure to load a ton of these in your fly box if you’re planning to fish late March and through April. The video above has it being tied on a size #18 dry fly hook, but keep some in #16 and #14, as well. Always tie a few in your favorite parachute style, too.

Here’s what you’ll need …

Hook: Standard dry fly hook (Dai-Riki #305), sizes 14-18
Thread: Olive, 6/0 (Danville Flymaster waxed thread)
Wing: CDC feathers, natural dun color
Body: Superfine dry fly dubbing, olive
Tail: Stiff hackle fibers ~or~ Microfibbets
Hackle: Grey dun hackle

For the parachute style BWO, another great video to check out is one by Allen Gardner over at The Catch and The Hatch. Check it out here …

Tight lines!

– The Black Gnats

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