The creation of this fly is attributed to Canon
William Greenwell (1821 to 1918). It is thought that Greenwell took his idea
to James Wright - who was already known as one of the tweed best flytyers -
during 1854. Mr. Wright is said to have been skeptical of this new idea
at first but after witnessing several creels full of fish caught using
the new fly he soon changed his mind. The original fly was dressed using
blackbird's wing, red and black hackle and a yellow silk body. Variations have
sprung up over the years; the first of which was by E.M Todd in 1903, this
included a coch-y-bonddhu hackle which was foxy red with a black
centre, a split blackbird wing a gold rib and a waxed yellow thread to give a
dirty yellow appearance. Todd's version was the first to incorporate the
waxed thread, this has carried on and has appeared in every version of the
fly since. Over the years the pattern has continued to evolve and despite the
inclusion of different wings and hackle colours the original is still a killer flyeven after 130
years. There are few better olive imitations, essential
for early and late large dark olive (baetis rhodani) hatches.
