Olive Willy
Thread - Olive 70 denier (8/0)
Hook - Standard wet fly hook. Most popular size is a #10.
Head - Red glass bead with the silver lining or red rabbit dubbing.
Tail - Marabou "fluff" from the stem of a dyed olive pheasant rump feather.
Body - Olive chenille
Hackle - Dyed olive hackle from pheasant rump
Tying tips
Pinch the barb and slide the red bead on the hook. Tie in the "marabou" fluff from the butt of a pheasant rump that has been dyed olive to form the tail. Tie in the olive chenille and wrap forward. Trim the excess chenille and tie in the olive pheasant rump feather by the tip. Wrap the hackle just behind the bead. One and a half or two turns are all that is needed. Tie off the hackle and clip the excess. Whip-finish the head just behind the bead and the fly is complete.
If red dubbing is used rather than a bead, the dubbing is placed in front of the olive rump hackle.
Last lines
"The most beautiful fly is one that catches fish and is not always the most visually appealing to other fishermen."
I first saw the Olive Willy in Swede's Fly Shop at Spokane.
Allen Peterson, the owner of Swede's, told me it was one of the most popular he sold. It certainly was an interesting pattern. My first thought was it would be great for lake fishing and Peterson confirmed that idea as he explained the pattern to me.
The one thing different about the fly is its red glass bead head. The bead has a silver inner lining and that is what makes it work so well, according to Peterson. The silver lining reflects the sun on bright days and attracts fish as it flashes through the water. But on cloudy days, the red bead does not work as well as dubbed red rabbit at the head or thorax of the fly.
Other than the red bead, the fly is nothing more than a Carey Special. No wonder it works so well in lakes. The Carey Special is a very well known pattern here in the Northwest for lake fishing.
I purchased some of the special red beads, tied a half dozen and promised myself I would experiment with the pattern on my next lake trip. I soon found myself sitting in my kick boat in the middle of Amber Lake near Cheney. I was having a fair day but the fishing had slowed. As I stared into my fly box there was the Olive Willy. I thought to myself, why not give it a try like I promised to do some time ago?
I knotted the fly to my tippet and started to kick along toward the area where I had caught some fish earlier in the day. The first strike caught me by surprise but it was a nice fish and gave a good account of itself.
"Thanks Allen," I said out loud.
Since that day I have used the fly in many lakes in our area and done well with it.
I started tying them for a shop in Stanley, Idaho, and every year the shop seemed to increase its order. I finally asked if fishermen were using the pattern in the lakes near Stanley.
"Some of them for lakes, but mostly in the streams," was the answer.
They had a customer who tried it in a stream and had a very successful day, so the shop started recommending it to customers. Now I can hardly wait to try the Olive Willy in some of the streams I fish. I have tied some for my stream-fishing fly box and will try to remember to give it a try.
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Hyatt is an avid fly tier who lives in Lewiston. He can be contacted at city@lmtribune.com
