Today - BWOs #22

[la_jolla1]

Tiemco TMC100 #22
Light Olive Unithread
Whiting Hebert medium dun for hackle/tail
In the hope that Hotcreek Ranch will have a cancellation



Hugh

[paddy5]

Nice bit of tying Hugh but would caenis not be closer in size to a #22 a #16 is pretty close to my local BWO's . although I suppose regional variations might well be at play. nice going . PJ.

[la_jolla1]

Paddy, you are right in that the typical BWO (ephemeralla spp) is about 8mm in size and #16. Unfortunately in some of the spring fed streams that feed into the California sierras, tiny seems to work. At Hotcreek Ranch, the fly shop has patterns no bigger than 16 and down to 28. Sometimes a big griffith's gnat is a 20, and the trout refuse, so I tie them, some generic BWOs and parachute Adams in 22s and 24s. Perhaps the high altitude has selected for smaller species of Baetis, and I simply don't know the difference between a BWO or a blue wing dun. I am probably matching a completely different fly. It also helps drive me mad, so I only tie 4-6 of any of the small sizes.

[Wee Jimmy]

Originally Posted by la_jolla1

Paddy, you are right in that the typical BWO (ephemeralla spp) is about 8mm in size and #16. Unfortunately in some of the spring fed streams that feed into the California sierras, tiny seems to work. At Hotcreek Ranch, the fly shop has patterns no bigger than 16 and down to 28. Sometimes a big griffith's gnat is a 20, and the trout refuse, so I tie them, some generic BWOs and parachute Adams in 22s and 24s..

Interesting,you must wonder "why" tiny seems to work.What are the fish actually feeding on when they refuse a 20..?

[stevekale]

Also, a BWO in the UK isn't a BWO in the US. Different little beastie. But #22 is rather small...

[la_jolla1]

Knopp and Cormier in their book "Mayflies" pp63-67, (Greycliff publishing, Helena, MT 1997) refer to them as "The Tiny Blue-Winged Olives" and list them as family Baetidae and the genera as Baetis and Acentrella (formerly Pseudocloeon). The flies match Baetis punctiventris or B. futile, the tiny Western olive dun, a bi-brooding species which hatches in June, and again in October.

They recommend tying the duns in sizes 20-24. Hence the vast UK -North American difference in sizes and species.

I new they worked, but I won't forget the entomology now

Thanks!