#32 Blue Wing Olive

Agust's notes

#32 BWO

Hans Weilenmann

Well I tied a Blue Wing Olive (BWO) onto that little golden comma attached to your letter. Can't say I'm happy with the result, but it is complete.

I took the unusual step of tying 3 size 22's, then three 24's and then three size 26's. Hoping to get my fingers used to working on tiny hooks. While it might have helped, tying on that little speck of gold was harder than I thought. I decided to use a tether, and good thing as the hook pinged out of the vise when I first attached it.

My first attempt was with a few strand of floss as thread, but the floss just would not stay. Ended up using 8/0 UNI thread. Tail of 3 fibers from a blue dun neck. I stuck with a thread body and after several attempts at wings decided against them. My dun neck did not have a suitably small feather. (Man is that a tiny hook) I used the smallest hackle I could find on a #2 olive dyed Hoffman cape. It still seems just a little big. Managed 3 wraps cleanly. As I snugged the whip finish down the hook again pinged from the vise. This time there were two tethers so finding the hook was easy.

I removed the original tether and left a few inches of thread hanging from the eye of the hook. The eye (spade) is more crowed that I would have liked, but the fly is complete.

I can honestly say that this was a humbling experience. I'm glad you gave me the chance to tye for it, and hope that my submission isn't too far below the standard.

I encased the fly in a Tiemco fly box with the thread pinched in the lid and tapped to the bottom of the box.

Thanks again for the chance to participate.