Fly Fishing Early Spring: Blue Winged Olives

An awesome brown caught during an early spring Blue Winged Olive hatch in March.

With the well-known, major hatches we have during the course of a year here in Pennsylvania, it is easy for many of the lesser sought out hatches to slip under radar. And while some hatches might go unnoticed by some anglers, bugs do not go unnoticed by the fish.

During early spring in Pennsylvania, a day on the water will mostly focus on nymphing or fishing streamers. However, the later half of March does provided limited opportunity to fish dry flies.

Every year I look forward to fishing Blue Winged Olives (BWO or Baetis) during the early spring. Blue Winged Olives usually hatch during the last half of March providing the first opportunity to see numbers of fish feeding on the surface.

If you are on the water in the early spring during a BWO hatch, both dry fly fishing and nymphing can be very good. Blue Winged Olives during the early spring provide an excellent prelude for the hatch fishing to come later in the spring.

When on the water in the early spring it pays to be prepared with a few Blue Winged Olives in your fly box. Even on a day that fish are not feeding on the surface, fishing a baetis nymph can be productive.

If you can’t wait any longer to get some dry fly fishing in, try catching a Blue Winged Olive hatch in the early spring. Blue Winged Olives are the first hatch I look forward to each year.

If you are in need of a few days on the water, talk to Joel to set up your trip.

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