Blae Wing Sooty Olive

During the months of April and May we will see many forms and colours of flies being cast out by anglers into the waters of our lakes hoping to catch a spring trout. This time of year hatches of duck fly and olives can be found fluttering around in the late spring breezes as the temperatures begin to rise.This is a fly that is worth trying on the cast when the mix of naturals are between the ducks and olives. The wing has many variations and a lot of fly-tyers will used folded bronze mallard or mallard paired wings among others, for this particular fly I like to use Teal feathers as I prefer the lighter colour grey it supplies to the fly. Here is the step by step of how to tie this trusted fly;

Place a size 14-12-10 Kamasan hook in the vise and attach black twist tying thread, then take a pinch of golden pheasant tippets 6/7 and attach them as the tail of the fly. I like the tail to be in or around the length of the shank of the hook.

Attach some oval gold ribbing and bring forward the body of dark olive squirrel  dubbing and follow up the body with equal turns of the ribbing, secure the rib and slightly brush out the body to create a fishy look to the fly.

Taking some bronze mallard dyed dark olive select a section and cut free to be used as the under hackle or beard Hackle. 

Tie in the mallard and pull it slightly to the underside of the fly as you secure it in place with the thread leaving room to tie in the wing on top of the body. 

Taking a pair of opposite feathers form the wings and cut away two equal size slips to be placed on top of each other to form the paired wing for the fly. Tie in directly on top of the hook to leave the wing upright and looking good on both sides.

Taking two equal sized jungle cock cheeks, clean off the down on the feather and attach them to the sides of the fly's as cheeks. secure them well and tie off the fly with the usual finishing knot; some varnish and your fly is ready. This is not the simplest of fly's and the wings might take some  practice for a young fly-tyer or beginner, also proportions are very important here with tail lengths and hackles, but practice make perfect so take your time and do one section at a time; just getting that right and before you know it you will be knocking these out for fun plus catching lots of fish with them too. 
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