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The Pheasant Tail Nymph was created by Frank Sawyer during his days as river keeper on the Avon River in Wiltshire in England. The fly that he tied was not representational of any particular mayfly nymph but rather is suggestive of the broad range of nymphs that he came across in his duties and his recreational fishing. The original tie produced a very thin nymph that sank well yet was not so heavy as to not swim in a realistic way. The tie was predicated on using pheasant tail herl which were 2.5 inches long in the old scale that's around 5 cm today.

I have varied the pattern a little to take into account the shorter herl on pheasant tails that dominate the market these days and to include the substitution of peacock herl in the thorax and the addition of legs. Pheasant tails vary in colour in their natural form from olives through to browns and there are also died versions available. I tie olive, brown and claret versions of this fly in a couple of sizes. These pheasant tail variants make up around 20% of the content of my nymph fly box and account for probably 50% of the trout I catch on nymphs.

This is an exceptional river fly and also a very useful fly for lake fishing to sighted fish or nymphing fish.

Materials

Process

A	Whilst winding the thread from the 95% position to the bend of the hook tie ina length of copper wire along the top of the hook shank. Understanding hooks Lift the wire up and take a few turns of the thread slightly round the bend of the hook just to form the rear taper of the nymph body.

B	Tie in 3 to 5 long Pheasant tail fibres with just a couple of turns of thread in front and behind the copper wire. The tips should form a tail no longer than the length of the hook shank. Resist the temptation to make the tail too bulky and too long. Looking at the original tie above I probably tie the tail a little long so feel free to shorten it down if that suits you.

C	Twist the hackle and wire just two or three times round the thread to form a hackle, wire and thread rope similar to a herl rope. Roping peacock herl Wind the hackle, wire and thread rope forward, in touching turns, 2/3 of the way along the shank of the hook and tie the hackle and wire rope off. Trim the remaining butt ends of the hackle but leave the copper wire. I like to wind the wire back 2 or 3 turns down the hook shank over where I tied off the peacock herl to add a little extra weight to the fly and irrevocably lock the herl in position.

D	Select 6 to 8 pheasant tail herl and tie them in with the butt ends on top of the hook shank and positioned directly in front of the copper wire and the tips facing forward but locked in under the hook shank and just back from the eye of the hook. The butt ends will be pulled forward in the next step to form the wing casing and the tips will be pulled back under the fly in the final step to represent the legs of the nymph. Make the tips long enough so that when pulled back under the fly they will represents legs that will just touch the point of the hook. For a large fly tie in 2 peacock herl and for a small fly tie in 1 peacock herl just in front of the copper wire.

E	Twist the peacock herl and wire just two or three times round the thread to form a herl, wire and thread rope. Roping peacock herl Use the herl, wire and thread rope to build up a thorax that is just a little thicker than the body of the fly. Tie the rope off and trim the remaining butt ends of the herl and worry off the remaining copper wire.

F	Pull the wing casing material forward over the top of the fly and tie it off just a little back from the eye of the hook. Trim away the remaining butt ends of the wing casing material. Alternative legs on flies

G	Stroke the tips of the pheasant tail herl backward under the fly to represent the legs of the nymph. Lock them in position with a couple of turns of thread and then build up a neat thread head, whip finish and trim the thread. Whip finishing with a biro or bodkin Apply a coat of head cement along the top of the thorax of the fly and the thread head.

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