The Pheasant Tail Nymph is one of the most effective and versatile trout flies ever created. Designed to imitate a wide range of natural nymphs, particularly mayfly nymphs, it works year-round in almost any stream or still water. Its slim, natural profile and subtle movement make it irresistible to trout feeding below the surface. Whether drifted naturally through a run or twitched slowly in still water, the Pheasant Tail consistently produces results.
Part of the fly’s enduring appeal lies in its adaptability. The Pheasant Tail Nymph can be tied with or without a bead head to control sink rate, with or without a flashback wingcase for added attraction, and with or without legs for a more streamlined silhouette. The thorax can be crafted from peacock herl for a traditional look or from modern dubbing materials to match specific hatches. This simple yet deadly pattern belongs in every fly box, ready to fool even the most selective trout.
Fishing
Weighted nymphs are better fished with a floating line where the water is moving a little faster.
Materials:
- Hook: Size 10 to 20 wet fly
- Thread: Black
- Body: Pheasant tail fibres
- Thorax: Pheasant tail fibres
- Thorax cover: Pheasant tail fibres
- Rib: Fine copper wire
- Tail: 4 to 6 pheasant tail fibres
Tying Instructions
From: Diptera.co.uk.
- Catch the thread onto the hookshank at a position between the barb and hook point.
- Catch in a length of copper wire with thread, 3 winds of thread should be enough.
- Take a bunch of pheasant tail fibres and catch in with the thread. Two wraps of thread should be enough.
- Now there are two options:-
- Option 1: To keep the body as thin as possible whip finish the thread, cut it and pull the wire from side to side until it snaps. Catch in the thread again on the hookshank at the eye. This keeps the body bulk to a minimum by no thread wraps being on the body section. (Downside to this is that sometimes the wire will pull out after a few fish, but sometimes you need a really slim fly).
- Option 2: If a really thin body isn’t required then wind the thread up the hookshank towards the eye catching in the wire as you go. At just over half the length of the hookshank pull the wire from side to side until it snaps and cover the waste wire end with thread.
- Take hold of the pheasant tail fibres between your thumb and index finger or using hackle pliers and wind them up the hookshank, making sure not to overlap or cross any of the fibres. At the thread position secure the pheasant tail fibres on top of the hookshank so that they point vertically. (These will be used for the thorax).
- Wind the wire up the hookshank in open and even turns in the opposite direction that you wound the pheasant tail fibres and secure with thread once at the thread position. Pull the wire from side to side until it snaps and cover the waste wire end with thread.
- Take another bunch of pheasant tail fibres and catch them in where the you secured the wire and secure the new bunch of pheasant tail fibres with thread until you reach the eye.
- Take hold of the pheasant tail fibres between your thumb and index finger or using hackle pliers and wind them back to position where the vertical pheasant tail fibres are tied in. Now wind them back to the eye and secure with thread and trim away any waste fibres.
- Finally, pull the vertical pheasant tail fibres forward over the thorax and secure them down with thread. Trim the waste fibres, build a neat head, whip finish and varnish the head.
- The completed Pheasant Tail Nymph.
