Olive the Wooly Bugger

Welcome to the world of fly-tying Shordy!

Dad had been eyeing some children's books called, "Olive the Wooly Bugger" series for about a year now, but knew they were a little too advanced for his Shordy.  But, the time had come to get the books and introduce the world of fly-tying and flies to his little boy.  There are three books in this series.  Uncle Dustin actually got him one of the books while at a Fly-Fishing/Tying Convention when we were in Idaho.  Dad had the other two and started reading them to Shordy when we got home from Idaho.

This kid LOVES them!  He took to the fun little characters and story like nothing else.  In fact, he had to have his own fly-box of the flies that are in the book.  So, he and Dad tied up some flies, and Dad already had some of them.  Dad also gave him his own fly box and put each of the flies inside.  Shordy loves them so much, and knows all of their names and can tell you if they are streamer flies, dry flies or nymphs, and can point each one of them out.  So, this particular morning he decided to get up on Dad's fly-tying desk and take a look at the flies he had up there.  While there he noticed, Randal the Royal Coachman was hanging out on the desk.  He promptly picked him up and showed him to me, explaining he's a dry-fly.  How crazy is that?!

Now, Mr. Shordy McGoo loves to play with his fly-box...but only when Tiny is taking a nap.  And...after losing Randal the Royal Coachman for a few hours one day and finding him later on the floor...I made Dad pinch all their barbs down, so if one of us gets poked it won't be nearly as big a deal.  But, Shordy knows how to handle the flies and hasn't been poked once.

He seriously loves these books, and asks his Dad to read them pretty much every day.  They are longer books, so he only gets one at a time, but he still loves them...it's pretty crazy!  Here are some of the flies and other characters in the book:

Randal the Royal Coachman
Stan the Stimulator
Polly the Partridge and Orange
Olive the Wooly Bugger
Ernie the Elk-haired Caddis
Gilbert the Gold-ribbed Hairs Ear
Petey the Prince Nymph
Sally the Yellow Sally
Zachary the Zonker
Billy the Blue-winged Olive
Andy the Adams
Mr. Muddler Minnow
Sockeye Jack
Clark (the Small Fry Steelhead)


I'm so glad he loves books and gets into them as much as he does.  And, I'm glad he's finding enjoyment in the things his dad loves.  I hope they are great friends and spend lots of time doing things they love to do together...fishing being one of them.  :)