FLYMPH FORUM

With Izaak's nice post of olives, I was wondering which flies everyone considers "Olives". Blue winged olive duns, to me, are different from Baetis. Where I live, baetis are small and dark olive-almost grayish. Now I realize that in different places, the color of flies vary, but the olives I see tied are very close to chartreuse in color or yellow-olive. Even what I consider olive to be a medium olive color-almost the color of the old US army olive fatigues. I am interested in what other peoples experiences are.

Now, having studied color and being artistically trained, it's my job to distinguish slight variations in color, and the three dimensions of color-hue, value and chroma. I may be seeing too much, or I may be to particular when it comes to distinguishing colors. Thoughts!

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Mark

The olives I match are mostly grey with slight olive undertones. Most like box number 5.

I have no idea what fish clearly see, but for general tying purposes I think you have too many selections available here. Not to say that any one wouldn't be a good match and that we shouldn't strive to match the exact color, but from your palate I would think only those most distant would be necessary. A good selection would be the first, third and last to cover the gambit of being distinct enough to warrant an individual tie.

Interesting observance, Carl! You are probably correct about this.

Mark

I swear I just posted to this thread, but I will be darn it didnt come through.

Try again! I'm interested in what you have to say.

Mark

Great topic, I love olives. In light of the issues surrounding color's importance in the order of things, I find myself saying...yes, it falls in 5th or 6th place in my personal approach, but you do have to blend a specific color or mix, so what should it be? For me the BWO's that I've held are more greenish yellow to grayish as well, but I spent some time one day years ago on a small stream in Central PA, on a cool cloudy day with a little bug catching net and watched for some time as these little guys appeared and drifted by (unmolested - otherwise I would have been fishing harder) and noticed they appeared a brighter/lighter shade at emergence compared to the ones I caught streamside after a bit of flight time. I can't remember where I read about this but not long after, but I found a reference to the tonal shift in color with exposure to the air and time. I haven't been fortunate enough to observe a hatch as classic as this for close study in a long time, but that observation stuck...and left me shrugging my shoulders as to choosing a particular color. Are cripples a shade darker than preflight duns? I haven't tied many olive dries recently, but when I did, they were closer to the emergent color/shade/tone than the darker version. I don't have any idea if it matters at all, but you do tie using a particular color, so how do you choose?

There are times when you can have multiple shades coming off at the same time. I would think 4,5,and 6 would suite my needs and add a tannish olive as well.
Jim

Jim Slattery wrote:There are times when you can have multiple shades coming off at the same time. I would think 4,5,and 6 would suite my needs and add a tannish olive as well.
Jim

Oh yea no doubt. My last visit to spring creek in pa we saw two hatches of olives. The first wave was more like shade one whereas the second later in the afternoon was somewhere in the vicinity of 5,6.

It should be noted that there are more than one species termed "Olives". This could account for different hatch times, location on the stream, size and coloration.

Mark

Soft-hackle wrote:With Izaak's nice post of olives, I was wondering which flies everyone considers "Olives".
Mark

Mark that is a question that many anglers would love an answer to, but few would dare ask.

Dare I suggest that it in fishing terms it is every green that isnt really green, any brown that isnt really brown any yellow that isnt yellow - hope that is as clear as mud

Take a look at the selction boxes of seals fur form Frankie Mc Philipshttp://www.rodgersfishingtackle.co.uk/p ... php?cat=44

Light Olive, Medium Olive, Sooty Olive (Erne), Dark Sooty Olive,Golden Olive, Golden Olive Bumble, Dirty Olive, Donegal Olive, Green Olive, Brown Olive, Fiery Brown, Dark Fiery Brown.