The Sooty Olive is a very popular pattern and one that I always carry in the fly box it is one of the better-known traditional Irish patterns and more than likely one of the most favoured .
The name comes from the colour of the Seals fur body on the fly and this colour is used on a number of different styles from Bumbles to dabblers etc .
It imitates a number of different species of Insects and is a very good fly to have up during a duck fly hatch .
it is a good all-round fly that can also be used for Sea trout in the summer months .
The original pattern has a wing of bronze mallard but this one has the blae wing , slips of teal wing feathers for the wing .
I don’t know where this pattern originated from it is just another one of the variants from the original pattern but it has become very popular .
