Tying the Blue Wing Olive

2. Cut a small clump of dark blue dun hackle fibers about 3/4 of the length of the hook. Place the ends that you cut over top of the thread wraps 1/4 of the way up from the bend in the hook. Wrap the ends down with 4 to 5 turns of thread and make sure the fibers stays on top of the hook. Cut the ends of the fibers that are sticking out from in front of your thread wraps at an angle sloping down. It should look like this...

3. Now using the brown/olive fur, dubb the thread for about 5 inches. Dubbing is done by pulling off small clumps of rabbit fur with your fingers and twisting it onto the thread always in a counter clock wise motion. Twist it on as evenly as possible...

4. Now spin your thread up the hook towards the eye stopping 1/4 inch from the eye. It should look like this...

5. Now select two small dark blue dun hackle fibers and trim off the fuzzy ends. Cut the 8 to 10 fibers off each side of the spine of the feather then tie them onto the hook to form the wings. Alternate your thread wraps infront of and behind the hackle to make them stand straight up. You can tie in both wings at the same time which is more difficult but uses less thread or each individually. It should look like this...

6. Now tie in a larger hackle fiber 1/8 inch behind the wings. To do this select a blue dun hackle fiber and trim the fuzz from the end of the feather. Lay the spine of the hackle feather against the side of the hook and secure with 4 to 5 thread wraps.

7. Spin your thread forward 1/8 inch from the eye of the hook. Using your hackle pliers grab the tip of the feather and spin it towards the eye of the hook. Tie the tip of the feather down with 4 to 5 thread wraps and trim off the tip of the hackle fiber and whip finish...