Go-to Trout Lake Patterns
- Thread starter jaredoconnor
- Start date
Islander
Life of the Party
Nice looking bug. I’ve been using John’s dark olive with an orange bead (pumpkin head) and blood leach colors. I’ll have to try the black/chartreuse.
Cliff
Steelhead
I've caught more fish on an Olive Willy than all of my other lake patterns combined. In second place is a black wooly bugger.Olive Willy. If I only had one pattern to fish that’d be it. Really easy to tie, too. Screengrab from the old site that I’ve had in my phone for a couple years below, not my SBS and apologies to the unknown author who got clipped off of the screenshot.
Edit - felt bad about the non-attribution since I love this fly so much. I think my screenshot was itself of a screenshot, of this article?
Commentary: The Olive Willy is apparently not just for lake fishing
Olive WillyThread - Olive 8/0 (70 denier)Hook - Standard wet fly hook. Most popular size No. 10. I like Daiichi No. 1550.Head - Red glass bead…lmtribune.com
View attachment 53465
I ALWAYS start with the Olive Willy on the three rods (floater, intermediate, sinker) set up on my kayak. Many times I may switch to another favorite just to see what else they might hit in addition to the Olive Willy.
Wayne Kohan
Life of the Party
As I like to say, I catch 80% of my fish on the fly I use 80% of the time. And the Olive Willy is one of them.
If anyone is near a Joann fabric, they have a 40% off sale on glass beads. Stocked up for olive willys and chronomids, probably a lifetime supply for about 12$. Silver lined.
RCF
Life of the Party
I agree. The fly I use 80% of the time catches more than 80% of the fish I catch. If it ain't broke don't fix it.
Luv me damsel nymphs...
I fished a simiseal leech a lot last year, but I'll get on the Willy train. This just came in the mail.
Bruce Baker
Steelhead
Me too. There are so many good tying videos on YouTube and seeing them on a 65" screen makes midge pupa's look like wooly buggers!
Islander
Life of the Party
They had one on a “no see um” that’s just thread and some grizzly hackle. I think those would work great on the rivers and lakes here as there’s sometimes these little tiny bug hatches I can barely see. They tie it on a size 20, but I’m going to try some 16 first, I can’t see well enough to tie a 20 even with magnification.
Six pack! One of my favorite lake fly patterns.
Yes, good call. Similar to the Carey but with the yellow feathers.
@FontinalisFin,
Thanks for the head us on the bead sale. I picked up a vial of the 6/0 Czech Seed Beads called the " Silverlined Mix ". I think this is the bead size you used.
The brand was johnbead.com but it was under the "Hilde and Jo" Brand sign. 6/0 seemed to be the size that would fit the bill as the other sizes seemed too small. They also had had 8/0 and 10/0 bead sizes.
For everyone's info, The "Silverlined Mix" has the silver inside the bead and comes in many colors to include red, olive, purple, pink, blue, lite blue, yellow, gold, copper and silver. Maybe I missed a few other colors but you get the idea. The beads look very fishy.
Im getting ready to tie me up some Olive Willys in about two minutes. Can't wait to try them out.
Thanks all for the info.
Be safe.
Bob
Thanks for the head us on the bead sale. I picked up a vial of the 6/0 Czech Seed Beads called the " Silverlined Mix ". I think this is the bead size you used.
The brand was johnbead.com but it was under the "Hilde and Jo" Brand sign. 6/0 seemed to be the size that would fit the bill as the other sizes seemed too small. They also had had 8/0 and 10/0 bead sizes.
For everyone's info, The "Silverlined Mix" has the silver inside the bead and comes in many colors to include red, olive, purple, pink, blue, lite blue, yellow, gold, copper and silver. Maybe I missed a few other colors but you get the idea. The beads look very fishy.
Im getting ready to tie me up some Olive Willys in about two minutes. Can't wait to try them out.
Thanks all for the info.
Be safe.
Bob
Last edited:
I ended up with 8/0 in white and clear for chronomids, anything smaller I couldnt tell if the bead would fit around the bend of a hook. 6/0 in the ruby silver lined and a 2/0 in the madness red mix, which is orange and red. I would of got a better mix pack if they had it but they didn't seem to stock it where I was at.
Thx for the heads up. I got the 3 on the left, under $10. The 6/0 matches the killer caddis bead I was using. My wife and granddaughter spied them and made mention of getting out the beading box.
Hobby Lobby had their beads on sale (half off) last weekend. The lady checking me out said they do the sale every other weekend. Might be worth calling ahead to check.
Regarding the Olive Willy, do you folks favor regular Olive Chenille basically the color of an olive that you eat, or the darker Olive color chenille? I went with the darker olive as it seemed to match the pictures I could find here and on Google. The Fly Fish Food video I think called for the darker olive also.
Thanks in advance.
Bob
Thanks in advance.
Bob
Last edited:
skyrise
Steelhead
I use light olive to dark olive. And really like a yellow olive or just straight yellow. Try a red rib on the body too.
