Since I first featured and did a tutorial on the original Aero Baetis here almost three years ago (crazy how time flies) and true to form on most any pattern I work with, I’ve come to tweak a few aspects of the fly that I feel make it an even better performer.
The first major change was the hook. I’ve become less a fan of the 200R style hooks with the small gap and long bend like that. I don’t think the shape and small gap give me much more than a stronger, larger gaped hook. Granted, they give you an awesome natural-looking shape to a finished fly and as I’ve heard some people mention, the smaller tapered gap might serve to obfuscate the overall hook shape. But given that any fish taking a fly will have to ignore the ginormous hook appendage coming out of the insect’s butt, I find myself tying more in wider gaped hooks and not worrying about that little aspect of it. Plus, getting beads on those hooks can be a nightmare.
I also updated the body and ribbing material to something less bulky and more flashy. The thorax is now a half-and-half natural/synthetic material in the Hare’e Ice Dub — one of my favorite nymph dubbings.
And not only does this style nymph play well as a Blue Winged Olive nymph, I use it almost as often for PMD nymphs and Callibaetis nymphs. You just need to swap out the appropriate colors and mess with sizing a bit.
Material List:
https://www.flyfishfood.com/blogs/nymph-tutorials/aero-baetis-2-0
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