How many shades of olive?

[FlySmyth]

So I am trying to tie some bwo patterns. My problem is there are as many shades of olive as there are patterns for this bug.

My question to all of you is this. How many patterns and sizes and shades of color do you have in your box? The choices are endless and I want your help in minimizing the learning curve.

Thanks in advance.

Ken.

[cheech]

Ken. The thing about Baetis is that there are many different species. I have seen them with dark olive bodies, light olive bodies, and even light gray bodies. I would recommend you tie some with each of those colors. Don't worry about the inbetween colors. You ought to ask Jason, he is the man when it comes to BWO entomology. He would also be able to help you with cattle controlling devices :0

[Curtis Fry]

I actually use more Gray than olive these days. If I use any olive (at least for the Green and Provo), it's a darker shade.

It also depends on the species obviously and then the shades seem to change as the hatch progresses as well. So there are a ton of factors

So if you want to know what I do...I tie up all different colors and sizes. That way I have good coverage. I'll also bring home bug samples just to test against. Make sure to moisten your fly when comparing colors so that you see how it looks in water.

[Trout4x]

Try light, dark and in between and see what works best for the areas you fish and then tie what works.

When I try something new I will do just a few so I am not wasting my time on patterns that may not work as well in the areas I am fishing.

I use more gray.


Trout4x

[jdubya]

is that a general shade of olive/grey will work for BWO's. the greater issue is style and size. size is obvious: style is not. what looks the best on any given day/moment?:

adult dun with upright wings, parachute with turkey flat post, cripple hanging in the film, sparkle dun with hanging shuck, flattened adult like the halo emerger, emerger caught in the water film, emerger on the way up to the film, egg laying adults (divers) going back into the water, etc.???

i tie all of these with a dull gray olive body that matches, especially when wet, the bwo around here. my no-catching issues always seem to revolve around stages of the natural, and the feeding habits of the trout at any given moment.

hope this is of use....

[Fred]

I think JW is right. While it seems that the hatch should be simple to figure out, the fish really seem to focus in on one specific aspect of it sometimes. It could be during the entire hatch or throughout the course of it. You can usually pick off a couple fish if you're not 100% on. For example, if they're coming up for emergers stuck in the surface film and you're fishing an adult, you can still catch one or two. But, figuring out exactly what they're hitting can make the difference between an average day and a knock-the-crap-out-of-em day. Sometimes it might even mean switching to an entirely different bug, like midges during a late-winter baetis hatch.

And, if any of what I just wrote is true, color is not really the main concern.

I also go with the Baetis olive-gray for my BWO patterns.

[carpman]

Gray/Olive superfine dubbing is my most consistent body color for Baetis. As mentioned before, they can range in color from Dark olive, to Gray, to Chocolate Brown. It's generally better to get the size and silhouette down, then finetune color............

[Ouzel]

Not only are there multiple shades of olive, each person sees the same color differently.
It would be nice to be able to duplicate Mother Natures work with just a few colors and minimize our material inventory.
Forget it.
Pick your hatches, duplicate to size and color as best you can and collect tying material like the rest of us. You might become friends with other tyers and spitt costs and swap material.

[Jason]

Dito on what JW said. Baetis are more gray than olive in most cases. I have a some olive/gray fine dry fly dubbing that looks great for my dry fly patterns. Check out the entomology pages for some close up photos.

http://www.utahonthefly.com/entomology/mayfly/swimrset.htm

[nightfish]

I've done well with a blend of dark olive, medium gray and a touch of rust. With biot bodies, you can vary the shade slightly by changing thread color, like olive under a gray biot. Thread bodies work well too on smaller patterns.

I'll usually start fishing with gray and work from there.