Blue-winged Olive (Thorax) HOOK: #10-18 standard dry-fly (Mustad R30 or Tiemco 5212). THREAD: THREAD: Olive 70-denier Ultra Thread. WING: Speckled dun turkey flats. TAIL: Dun Coq de Leon hackle fibers. BODY: Olive Superfine dubbing. HACKLE: Dun.

Pennsylvania fly fisherman and author Vince Marinaro--in his classic book A Modern Dry-Fly Code--argued that trout pay relatively little attention to a mayfly's body, and that the wing and the "footprint" of the fly are the most important triggers that cause trout to strike. The thorax-style dry flies that resulted from his research were tied with hackle-tip wings set in the center of the body for better balance, and the hackle wound in X wraps behind and in front of the wing.

Today most thorax ties are tied with a more opaque wing material such as turkey shoulder feathers (turkey flats), and the hackle is wrapped in evenly spaced turns over a dubbed body, and then trimmed flat or with an inverted V on the bottom. It is especially effective fly in smaller sizes, perfect for imitating Baetis, Tricos, Sulphurs and other small mayflies.

Tying Steps

Colorado fly tier John Barr has combined the best attributes of the thorax style with a Compara-dun-style wing made of highly visible polypropylene yarn. The Viz-A-Dun may be the best variation on Marinaro's design so far.

Step 1. Attach the thread to the hook and position it above the barb. Add a tiny amount of dubbing to your thread and wrap a small ball directly above the barb.

Step 2. Measure and place six to ten hackle fibers along the top of the hook shank so they extend past the bend the length of the hook shank. Use the pinch wrap to tie down the fibers and carefully wrap over the fibers toward the dubbing ball in close touching turns. As the thread wraps approach the dubbing ball, use your fingers to position the hackle fibers with half on one side and half on the other side of the dubbing ball. The ball causes the two groups of hackle fibers to deflect or splay outward in opposite directions.

Step 3. Position the thread at the 60 percent mark. Snip the center stem from a turkey flat feather leaving a V-notch near the top. Stroke the turkey feather fibers from both sides of the "V" together into a single clump to align the tips, measure a wing the length of the hook shank, and using a pinch wrap, attach the wing to the shank with the feather tips extending over the hook eye. After the wing is attached, clip the butts of the feather fibers. Lift the wing to the vertical position and build a thread dam in front of the wing to hold it in the upright position.

Step 4. Dub a slender body to the 50 percent mark. Tie in an appropriately sized hackle facing toward the rear of the hook with the shiny side of the feather facing you.

Step 5. Dub the body to behind the hook eye, making X wraps around the wing to cover the tie-in point.

Step 6. Wrap the hackle forward in evenly spaced turns to behind the hook eye and tie off. Trim the hackle flat on the bottom of the fly so it rides low in the water.

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