Pheasant Tail Nymph                   

Hook:  Nymph Hook TMC 3761 # 10 - 20

Thread: Dark Brown 8/0 Uni Thread

Tail:    Pheasant Tail Fibres 3-5

Rib: Copper Wire

Body: Pheasant Tail 

Wingcase:  Pheasant Tail 

Thorax: Peacock Herl.

Legs:  Pheasant Tail Fibres

1/ This first step is optional. Apply several turns of lead. Use the finest grade you can get .10 is good. Make only a few turns where the thorax will be tied in. A good ideal would be to do some with no weight, some with .10 and some with a heavier gauge again. Wind a base of thread starting at the rear winding forward over the lad and then back to the hook rear where you started.
2/ Take a small bunch of pheasant tail fibres (3-5 fibres) and measure against the hook shank for length. Your tail should be be of roughly the same size. Tie these in as shown but don't trim the stubbs as these will be used to construct the abdomen or body section of the fly. Once this is completed and looks like the accompanying photo move to Step 3.
3/  Now select your wire. You can use any coloured copper wire although I mainly tie mine with, in order of preference, plain copper, red copper (purple really but called red) and gold wire. Cut a piece that is about 8" long which is about the perfect length and will make several nymphs. Now tie in and out to the rear of the fly out of the way of the next step. Take your thread forward to the lead and trim the excess wire.
4/ Next we must make the body of the fly. Take the pheasant tail fibres and grip them gently between thumb and forefingers. Wind away (clockwise around the hook) from you and forward being careful not to break the delicate fibres. When you reach the lead tie of with the thread and trim the excess pheasant tail. Add a half hitch at this tie off point for overall strength.
5/ Take the copper wire and rib the body of the fly. This is done for two reasons 1/ for the effect of segmentation and 2/ for strength. These flies need to be strong enough to catch at least a dozen fish. Take 3-5 turns to reach the thread going in the opposite direction (counter clockwise) to the body wraps. Trim the excess wire and select a bunch of fibres for the wingcase. Tie in and to the rear and remove the stubbs..
6/ Next select between one and three peacock herls depending on the size of the fly and the quality of the herl you have. I am tying a small version here with good herl so I only need the one. Wind this in as you did your wingcase and trim any excess. This will be used to construct the thorax although you can use pheasant tail fibres here too or as many of the true to tradition tiers do, a reddish copper wire.
7/ This step also requires a little delicacy. Using your fingers (never use pliers when tying herl in!) wind the herl forward to a point just behind the hook eye making each successive turn in front of the previous one. This will give you a nice bushy thorax that will sparkle and move as it gets wet. Leave enough room behind the hook eye to complete the tying and tie off and trim the excess herl.
8/ Next we must tie in the wingcase. Gently take the pheasant tail fibres you tied in in Step 5 between your thumb and forefingers of your right hand (for right handed tier). Pull these forward over the top of the thorax making sure most, if not all of the fibres stay in straight line from rear to front. You will see what I mean in the overhead shot in step 10. Once in place transfer holding them to your other hand and tie off and trim.
9/ The wingcase is now in place. Ad a half hitch for more strength and to stop the heartbreak of having a loose wrap causing it to come undone. Then select a few fibre tips from the pheasant tail. Tie a bunch of between 2 and 5 on each side of the fly extending back almost to the rear of the body and slightly out from the hook shank. See photo 10 below and to the right for correct alignment. Trim the excess.
10/ The fly is now complete. Add a couple of half hitches to finish and admire! You can see from the photo how the finished fly should roughly look. Some prefer to make the legs with the same material you made the wingcase out of and while this is a more efficient use of materials it is a little more tricky to do. This is just one variation of this famous little pattern.

The Pattern

This is a fly that is used the world over and it would be remiss of us not to include it early on in our Fly of the Week Archives. The PT nymph is one of Frank Sawyer's remarkably simple and effective patterns. Sawyer was a River Keeper on the Avon and over the years gained a very intimate knowledge of the river and it's trout. He was able to expand upon the earlier work done on nymphs by Skues and actually was the first to really consider it as an art unto itself. "Skues argued that casting nymphs to rising fish was rather like dry-fly fishing, but Sawyer believes it is completely different, more difficult in some ways, and in no manner inferior to the dry-fly method" (Schwiebert, Nymphs, 1973). He lived and fished the river on a daily basis and was able to watch fish feeding on sub aquatic invertebrates in it's clear flows and to then work out flies and tactics to deceive them. This pattern is his legacy.

This fly has many things going for it. Firstly it is constructed from easily obtained natural materials. While most of us applaud the huge range of artificial materials available that make tying every manner of pattern an easy proposition, there is still some intangible attractive quality associated with natural materials. No two materials exemplify this better than pheasant tail and peacock herl. The second thing is the shape of the nymph. It is a very narrow pattern that both sinks very quickly due to it's lack of bulk and suggestively represents the nymphal stage of many of the mayfly species especially the Baetis which are so prevalent the world over. 

It can be tied with extra weight to get down deep for when the fish are not taking from the top and is especially good when fishing to sighted fish in the freestone streams of New Zealand and rivers like the Swampy Plains in New South Wales. Conversely it can be fished with no weight at all high in the water column as an emerging nymph and we have had much success with smaller versions of this fly when fished this way. It is remarkably versatile. The addition of a beadhead and/or flashback gives the fly a very different look and is especially good in fast water when tied in this fashion. There is almost no limit to it's use.

We would recommend carrying it in all the sizes listed but especially concentrating on the 14-18 group. Tie a variety of these both weighted/unweighted, beadhead/no beadhead, copper thorax/herl thorax/pheasant tail thorax. This should cover most nymphing situations in which a small lightly dressed brown nymph is required. It is probably at it's best when fished upstream dead drift to a visibly nymphing fish but the most common usage is to fish it below a dry fly when blind searching and it will catch you many trout every season when used this way.

Good fishing!

Antony, David and Geoff.