Richard Formato

Richard Formato is an avid catch-and-release fly-fisherman from Wytheville, Va. When not on the water, he operates a small business there. Formato loves to fly-fish in his native Southwest Virginia because of the great water and wonderful people. He also loves to fish the flats and shallows of the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic whenever work and weather permit. He is on the Department of Conservation and Recreation's board of directors and is a trustee of the Shenandoah National Forest and Skyline Drive.

Recent columns

• What about Bob?
• Notes from the Charlotte Fly Show
• A chance meeting
• A wish for Jack

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• Talk fly-fishing

The blue-winged olive is one of my favorite dry flies for many reasons.

Number one, because the window of its fishing viability is extremely long, it is one the few flies that stays in my box all year long.

Number two, it is easy to identify in the air.

Number three, it catches trout.

Right now, even in the lowest water I have ever seen, I am having great success with the blue-winged olive.

Fishing the last couple of weeks has been an interesting experience. I have walked up to several creeks “slack jawed,” peering at the water, seeing every rock, every inch of bottom through a clear green lens.

This lack of water has taken some wind out of my sails. My favorite streams don’t even look the same. I am seeing bare rocks I didn’t ever see before. Some of the larger runs have dwindled down to small riffle runs that don’t even go over your wading boots.

The only advantage has been a breeze, and the right fly.

Walking rivers, I have seen very few fish, but I have been catching them – all with blue wings.

And I have seen a few brook trout in the spring creeks, but once they see me, they vaporize, and the water looks dead.

But if you like catching horny heads and stone rollers, this is your season, because while we have perfect trout weather, we have terrible trout water due to lack of rain.

Just to catch a fish in this drought is a victory.

Using the BWO, cast up or cross stream, always dusted with powder, this fly is a winner when fished in the back eddy pools off the bank or in the eddy lines behind big rocks.

My first catch was a small Rainbow on a rocky ledge. My second was a classic take, upstream under a hemlock tree in a shadowed eddy. Even in 6 inches of water, this was a respectable Rainbow, which vanished in a second.

These tiny mayflies reign the rivers half the year, and are the “go to” pattern from now until spring.

With its pretty blue sail glistening off the water, and with its green thorax body, the blue-winged olive is a fly you expect to use on an almost fall, winter or spring day.

Hatches can begin as early as late September and continue until April, with the best activity in February and early March.

I have never been to a Virginia or Tennessee river that didn't hatch a few BlueWinged Olives on a winter afternoon.

Even on the darkest day, the fly is a consistent show on Virginia’s trout water.I carry BWO in every size, and often fish one size larger than the hatch to make for an appetizing substitute for nature’s provision.

Nymph imitations can be productive even when there is no hatch in progress.

The Pheasant Tail Nymph and Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear nymphs are ideal imitations for the BlueWinged Olive's early stages.Nymph varieties live in almost all types of running water, but slow to moderate runs hold the largest populations.

A blue-winged olive fly

Nymphs have a habit of purposefully drifting short distances in the current to find a new home; sunrise and sunset are the prime times for this activity.

Emerger patterns are especially useful during the hatch. When fishing a massive hatch, I use a dun that is slightly darker than the natural. The trout don't seem to care, and it's much easier to pick out my fly from the hundreds of naturals.

For this reason, the indicator/orange post BWO is an awesome fly – especially since the BWO habitually hatches in the darkest areas of the stream, and hatches on the darkest of winter days.

Indicator flies seem a little strange at first, because to the angler they seem so unnatural, but the trout doesn’t see the post as a detraction.This fly is especially useful when fished with a pheasant tail dropper.

Spinner falls are sometimes important, so you should always carry a few patterns during the blue-winged olive season. Some spinners actually swim or crawl below the water to lay their eggs, so sub-surface spinner patterns should be part of your strategy.

As members of the swimmer group of mayflies, the blue-winged olives are a diverse crowd, including more than one genera and many species.

With 153 species, they are often misidentified.If you can classify them all, you are either very smart or very lonely.

Often called by their Latin name Baetis, most fly anglers pronounce the word bait-us, however beet-us is the correct pronunciation.

So as you fish on these bluebird days in these gin-clear waters, use the “beet us” and you will “beet them.”