Olsen’s Diabaetis Perdigon – Dark Copper & Copper Bead – Barbless

From the designer, Devin Olsen:

One of the fun aspects of fly tying is experimenting with new materials as they become available. Given their importance in most of the streams I fish, baetis nymphs are one of the patterns I experiment the most with. With the proliferation of the perdigon style of nymphs over the last several years, perdigon specific tinsels have hit the market as well. Of course, I began trying these tinsels after we started selling them in our shop a few years back. During the winter and on lower light days, I have often done well with nymphs featuring blue or purple materials in their bodies. I used some perdigon tinsel to create a dark purple baetis nymph. I then tried some with and without a wire ribbing. The versions with the wire produced more fish so I stuck with them. My friend Connor Murphy and I had been joking about naming a fly the Diabaetis for a while. When this pattern came along, I knew I’d found the perfect vessel.