The Beatis (Blue Wing Olive) mayfly nymphs approach full size and they are active in their preparation to hatch shortly. There are two techniques for fishing the natural olive nymphs.
The first is to use a size 18 Blue Wing Olive Nymph and fish it upstream dead drift on a 6X Classic Knotted Leader with two MFS Indicators spaced along it. Productive areas to drift your nymphs are beside the aquatic grass beds and along the knee deep undercut stream banks. Often a very large trout will pick up your nymph very gently so watch your MFS Indicators closely for the take.
A second technique which is effective on heavily overcast days is to fish the Mr. Rapidan Olive Soft Hackle size 16 down and across stream. If you see some BWO duns hatching impart a two foot rod lifting action to the Soft Hackle every 4 feet of the swing. This mimics the swimming action on the natural emerger. Frequently large browns will hit this fly very hard so set the hook gently so you don’t break the trout off. If you don’t see any duns hatching cast your Soft Hackle Olive Mr. Rapidan down and across stream at a 20 degree angle and by pointing your rod straight down the line and let it swim slowly across the current. The strike usually comes when the fly is at a 45 degree angle down stream.
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