Baetis or BWO: Understanding the Confusion
Baetis, pronounced (bay-tuss), is a small mayfly that often confuses fly fishers trying to identify ongoing hatches precisely. To complicate matters, Baetis is a family of insects, and what fly fishers commonly call the Blue Wing Olive (BWO) is actually a sub-species. Generally, the term BWO is used to identify any mayfly smaller than size 16 with an olive body.