Warning: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is deprecated, use preg_replace_callback instead in ..../includes/class_bootstrap.php(430) : eval()'d code on line 106 Fall Blue Winged Olive Tips and Flies… Get 'er Done!!! Part 1
Fall Blue Winged Olive Tips and Flies… Get 'er Done!!! Part 1
Fall Blue Winged Olives: The Tiny Insect that Draws Big Attention
By: Aaron Jasper
This mayfly hatch is kind of like Mother Nature’s last hurrah. While taxonomists have classified many other Blue Winged Olive mayflies into the genera baetidae, only the Pseudocloeon remains. This is the last mayfly hatch that we see on our streams until its cousin the beatis. This hatch is often very intense and can last for two months. The first hatches usually occur during the first week of October and can last well past multiple frosts in late November and Early December with the heaviest emergences from the middle of October through the first half of November. This hatch typically starts just before noon and goes on till about three in the afternoon. It is so predictable; you could just about set your watch to it. This hatch can provide some very “technical” angling opportunities because the flies are typically between size 18-16 and long fine leaders, sometimes as fine as 8 and 9x, are used to fool these wary trout.
Weather variances and insect activity
There are a few slight variances to cover in the fall Blue Winged Olive. On very cold days the hatch might hold off until 1:00 pm. During these cold days the hatch will be brief because a short window of warmer water that is needed to get the insects active. You will generally see very short, intense hatching during this type of weather.
During unusually warm weather, the hatching activity is usually pushed way back to the late afternoon or early the evening. This scenario can produce some amazing fishing. The actual hatching activity starts to dwindle as the spinner fall begins and this can provide fly anglers with some epic fishing to two different stages of this insect.
Fishermen often see trout and some surprisingly large ones feeding on small mayflies occurring on cloudy drizzly fall days. The actual hatching activity is stimulated because of the lack of sunlight and large trout will often feed during the very intense hatching that occurs on these types of days. The humidity in the air also stops the duns from drying their wings off enough to fly off of the stream. This results in the flies being on the water for extended periods of time.
How the Insects Hatch
After the nymphs build up the necessary gases to head to the surface of the stream to hatch, they swim very slowly. Right before hatching takes place and the nymphs are in the surface film and they become nearly motionless: an easy meal for a trout.
Fishing the hatch
Fishing the fall blue winged olive hatches can be as tough or as easy as you make it. It’s a fairly easy proposition as these are the last of the mayflies to hatch on our streams and the only competition as far as hatching goes are midges. The long drawn-out emergence combined with the intense hatching conditions the trout to key in on these insects. Even if there are other competing food sources on the water the olives will usually win out.
One afternoon on the West Branch of the Delaware, there was no surface or sub surface activity until the fall olives showed themselves. From then on, pools that were void of fish had numerous large wild browns rising in them to feed on the blue winged olives.
Fly Selection (nymphs)
Nymphing the riffles and runs with blue winged olive nymph imitations can yield exceptional catch rates prior to the main hatch. If you look through the blue winged olive nymph imitations included in the article, you will see that some have a bead as an attractor, some have a hot spot and others have no beads. Beaded and hot spot nymphs fish great when the water is high and off-color because they offer the trout the best chance at seeing your fly in the dirty water. During high water events a fly with a flash back is also a good choice. Anything that can help attract the trout to your nymph when there are thousands of other flies in the drift puts the odds of the trout taking your fly in your favor.
Using very natural imitations of the nymphs when the water is clear, or when you can see the trout can add to your catch rates during these difficult scenarios. During these times the trout are seeking out an exact copy of the natural and giving them something that is realistic puts the odds of catching that fish in your favor. Spring creek scenarios and low fall flows are great times to make sure that you have plenty of finely detailed imitative olive nymphs on hand.
Fly Selection - Emergers
When the fall blue winged olives hatch, the nymphs slowly swim to the surface and once there, they shed their shuck and hatch into an adult insect. This is when some of the most productive dry fly fishing occurs. Since the weather and water temperatures are cooling down the flies are slow to escape from their shucks and they are often left floating helplessly. To think that a trout lets this go unnoticed is a big mistake. Over seventy-five percent of my dry fly fishing during this hatch is done with various styles of emerger patterns.
Fly Selection - Duns
There are times when trout are rising freely to duns that have hatched and are floating helplessly along the surface of the stream. However, the time periods where this happens is generally very short in duration. Emergers will out-produce a dun, although it often seems like the fish are exclusively taking duns. However, often times the fish are actually taking cripples and stillborns.
There are times, however when a dun is the fly of choice. On windy days one often has great success fishing duns in back eddies off of the main current of the stream. On one occasion fishing the Housatonic River in Connecticut, a stream that is noted for its intense fall olive hatches, the wind was gusting up to 30 miles per hour, and all of the hatching duns were being blown to the edge of the stream. As soon as the trout figured this out, they were racing to the stream edges to feed. Do not make the mistake of thinking that trout only take duns in the main part of the stream. Remember that by tying a dun onto your line, you are often limiting yourself. The same trout that will eat the dun will surely eat the emerger, and this will result in having a more versatile fly on the end of your tippet.
Spinners are an extremely important part of the fall olive hatch since the spinner fall lasts only a short period of time. During these short spinner falls, some very heavy surface feeding occurs. Generally around five in the afternoon you will see giant swarms of spinners in the air. Having rusty colored spinners with various different wing materials can pay large dividends in catch rates. This is due to the length of the hatch and that the trout can get extremely finicky when it comes to fly patterns during this period. It’s good to have a wide variety of patterns to choose from in case you are fishing over fish that have seen many different flies. You might have to make several fly changes in a short period to get a trout to take your offering. This theory was confirmed on one occasion when fishing the Stockport section of the Main Stem of the Delaware in New York. This phenomenon was observed while fishing over one particular brown trout for over one hour that it wasn’t interested in a cripple, a snow shoe winged spinner, and a poly wing spinner and got nothing but refusals. The gorgeous wild brown trout didn’t take until it was offered a CDC winged spinner.
Notes about top water fly selection
When tying flies for the fall olive hatch whether they are imitative of duns, emergers or spinners, be sure that they are all flush floating, or riding right in the surface film. A fly that is not riding right in the film will very often get rejected because of its unnatural appearance. Remember, when naturals are floating down the stream all that the trout see are a body, tails and a wing if it’s an adult imitator, and if it’s a spinner imitator, they see tails, a body and a spent wing. Be sure to get the very slender profile of the insect correct: if the natural is thin, the trout will key in on a very thin imitation. One that is too thick will often be refused.
How to approach the stream when fishing the fall olives
When the nymphs start to get active in the riffles, the best way to catch trout is to nymph. You can either indicator nymph or European Nymph the riffles. Keep in mind the guidelines of how to select the right pattern for each water condition.
When the trout start to rise to the emerging insects you will notice that the action will shift from the shallow riffles to the deeper water at the heads of the pools. This is mainly due to the fact that the slower surface currents allow the trout to see the insects floating down stream at a slower rate. They have more time to see them and strike. This transitional water is where I tend to see most of the trout feeding on emergers.
As the hatch slows in intensity, you will notice that the trout will feed opportunistically to the remaining duns that could not escape the water’s surface. This is when I have had my best luck fishing dun patterns.
Once the hatching activity ends and you see spinners in the air, there are two main areas to head for: the areas where the riffles meet the heads of the pools and the tails of pools. These are both excellent places to catch blue winged olive spinner falls. The first of these areas is productive for the same reason as when fishing the emergers. The water speed is slow enough that the fish are able to see the flies drifting overhead and can feed on them.
The second spot, the tail out of a pool, is a great place to look for trout rising to blue winged olive spinners. Since the majority of spinner falls occur during low light periods, trout feel comfortable enough to move into these areas. These areas usually have increased flow because they are located above riffles. This increased flow generally makes presenting flies to wary trout much easier.
High Water and Fall Olives
Fall Olive Hatches can provide outstanding opportunities to catch trout near the surface even in some high water scenarios. Since this hatch is so long in duration, trout really begin to look to feed on them around mid-day. It doesn’t matter if the river is low or flooded. One example of this scenario is a guide trip a few years back when the clients witnessed the flow increasing from 500 cfs to over 2,000 cfs in only a few hours. However, the olives hatched, and even in the high, dirty, debris-filled water, there were plenty of trout feeding on the emerging insects. In this scenario simply rig up a small foam tab indicator a foot above a small olive nymph and to the eye of the first fly attach another small nymph that is imitative of the emerging insects. Because the trout rely heavily upon this hatch as a food source, high water doesn’t deter them from feeding and the clients’ day was saved.
Tackle for fishing the Fall Olives
For nymph fishing a 10 foot 3 or 4 weight rod is the best choice. This rod is suitable for European nymphing, indicator nymphing or sight nymphing. These rods are also capable of handing the light tippets needed to fish these size 18-24 flies.
Dry flies, emergers and spinners are generally best paired with an 8 or 9 foot 2 through 4 weight for most applications. I frequently using tippet between 6 - 8X and these rods can handle the shock from a trout thrashing on the surface or nosing the bottom.
When you hit the Fall Olives this season
Take all of this information and flies and try it out forgetting about these tiny mayflies is a big mistake. This information will give you a game plan, and will enable you to be more successful when fishing these diminutive mayflies!
Spinners are an extremely important part of the fall olive hatch since the spinner fall lasts only a short period of time. During these short spinner falls, some very heavy surface feeding occurs. Generally around five in the afternoon you will see giant swarms of spinners in the air. Having rusty colored spinners with various different wing materials can pay large dividends in catch rates. This is due to the length of the hatch and that the trout can get extremely finicky when it comes to fly patterns during this period. It’s good to have a wide variety of patterns to choose from in case you are fishing over fish that have seen many different flies. You might have to make several fly changes in a short period to get a trout to take your offering. This theory was confirmed on one occasion when fishing the Stockport section of the Main Stem of the Delaware in New York. This phenomenon was observed while fishing over one particular brown trout for over one hour that it wasn’t interested in a cripple, a snow shoe winged spinner, and a poly wing spinner and got nothing but refusals. The gorgeous wild brown trout didn’t take until it was offered a CDC winged spinner.
Notes about top water fly selection
When tying flies for the fall olive hatch whether they are imitative of duns, emergers or spinners, be sure that they are all flush floating, or riding right in the surface film. A fly that is not riding right in the film will very often get rejected because of its unnatural appearance. Remember, when naturals are floating down the stream all that the trout see are a body, tails and a wing if it’s an adult imitator, and if it’s a spinner imitator, they see tails, a body and a spent wing. Be sure to get the very slender profile of the insect correct: if the natural is thin, the trout will key in on a very thin imitation. One that is too thick will often be refused.
How to approach the stream when fishing the fall olives
When the nymphs start to get active in the riffles, the best way to catch trout is to nymph. You can either indicator nymph or European Nymph the riffles. Keep in mind the guidelines of how to select the right pattern for each water condition.
When the trout start to rise to the emerging insects you will notice that the action will shift from the shallow riffles to the deeper water at the heads of the pools. This is mainly due to the fact that the slower surface currents allow the trout to see the insects floating down stream at a slower rate. They have more time to see them and strike. This transitional water is where I tend to see most of the trout feeding on emergers.
As the hatch slows in intensity, you will notice that the trout will feed opportunistically to the remaining duns that could not escape the water’s surface. This is when I have had my best luck fishing dun patterns.
Once the hatching activity ends and you see spinners in the air, there are two main areas to head for: the areas where the riffles meet the heads of the pools and the tails of pools. These are both excellent places to catch blue winged olive spinner falls. The first of these areas is productive for the same reason as when fishing the emergers. The water speed is slow enough that the fish are able to see the flies drifting overhead and can feed on them.
The second spot, the tail out of a pool, is a great place to look for trout rising to blue winged olive spinners. Since the majority of spinner falls occur during low light periods, trout feel comfortable enough to move into these areas. These areas usually have increased flow because they are located above riffles. This increased flow generally makes presenting flies to wary trout much easier.
High Water and Fall Olives
Fall Olive Hatches can provide outstanding opportunities to catch trout near the surface even in some high water scenarios. Since this hatch is so long in duration, trout really begin to look to feed on them around mid-day. It doesn’t matter if the river is low or flooded. One example of this scenario is a guide trip a few years back when the clients witnessed the flow increasing from 500 cfs to over 2,000 cfs in only a few hours. However, the olives hatched, and even in the high, dirty, debris-filled water, there were plenty of trout feeding on the emerging insects. In this scenario simply rig up a small foam tab indicator a foot above a small olive nymph and to the eye of the first fly attach another small nymph that is imitative of the emerging insects. Because the trout rely heavily upon this hatch as a food source, high water doesn’t deter them from feeding and the clients’ day was saved.
Tackle for fishing the Fall Olives
For nymph fishing a 10 foot 3 or 4 weight rod is the best choice. This rod is suitable for European nymphing, indicator nymphing or sight nymphing. These rods are also capable of handing the light tippets needed to fish these size 18-24 flies.
Dry flies, emergers and spinners are generally best paired with an 8 or 9 foot 2 through 4 weight for most applications. I frequently using tippet between 6 - 8X and these rods can handle the shock from a trout thrashing on the surface or nosing the bottom.
When you hit the Fall Olives this season
Take all of this information and flies and try it out forgetting about these tiny mayflies is a big mistake. This information will give you a game plan, and will enable you to be more successful when fishing these diminutive mayflies!
Great Job Aaron. I struggle with this hatch. One problem I have is recognizing the activity as olives. By the time I figure it out the hatch is over.I am on the North Platte . The locals claim the olives here hatch at nine a.m. I think they are wrong. I see tricos in the a.m but I have not seen olives. I find a some of the flies I used for tricos work on olives. The female duns on the big horn are olive around size 20 or 18 .