{{+1}}TBH flash back PTN{{-1}}

Jeremy Lucas was our river coach leading up to the 2012 World Fly Fishing Championships and one of the flies we fished was a flash back bead head nymph but it was unlike other flash back flies we had all fished in that the flash was very thin. Jeremy's view was that too much flash spooked the fish.

I support that view and only tie flash back nymphs with just enough flash to catch the light.

This is my version of flash back PTN ... it's one of my favourite 5 bead head nymph patterns.

Materials

Hook	Bead	Weight	Thread	Tail	Rib	Body	Wing casing	Thorax
Size #12 & #14 Knapek nymph	Copper tungsten bead: 3.0mm for size #12 and 2.5mm for size #14	Lead wire: .020 for size #12 and .015 for size #14	Uni-thread 6/0 dark brown	Coq de Lion brown cock hackle fibres	Soft copper wire: Med for size #12 and Sml for size #14	Pheasant tail feather barbules	UTC Mirage Tinsel opal small	75% Hends hare dubbing grey and 25% Hends spectra dubbing 15/grey

Process

A	Most beads have a large opening at one end and a smaller opening at the other. Slide a copper tungsten bead over the point of the hook small opening first and position it behind the eye of the hook. Eyes on flies Adding extra weight to the fly. On this fly my preference is to keep the bead size down a little and to add extra weight to compensate for that. Use your hackle pliers to hold the tag end of your lead wire and hold that against the hook shank. Take 6 tight touching wraps of the lead wire toward the back of the bead.

B	Worry the excess lead wire off. Apply a little head cement to the lead and push it all the way forward until it is snug behind the bead.

C	Dressing the fly. Tie the thread in behind the lead wire and wind the thread in touching turns to the bend of the hook. Understanding hooks

D	Tie in a tail of Coq de Lion brown cock hackle fibres barbules at the bend of the hook with several firm wraps of thread.

E	Tie in a length of copper wire along the top of the hook shank to the bend of the hook.

F	Select 8 to 10 long pheasant tail hackle barbules.

G	Tie the pheasant tail hackle barbules in by the thinner tips along the top of the hook shank to the bend of the hook.

H	Wind the pheasant tail barbules forward forming a uniform body over the rear 2/3 of the fly. Tie the pheasant tail barbules off in the front 1/3 of the fly and return the thread to the 2/3 position.

I	Trim away the excess butt section of the pheasant tail barbules. Wind the copper wire forward forming 4 or 5 body segments along the rear 2/3/ of the fly. Tie the copper wire off in the front 1/3 of the fly and worry off the excess wire.

J	Depending on the size of the fly tie in one or two strands of pearl holographic tinsel.

K	Pull the tinsel back along the top of the thorax area and lock that in position along the top of the fly to the 2/3 position.

L	Dub on a thorax that is just a little thicker than the body between 2/3 position and the back of the bead.

M	Pull the holographic tinsel forward to form the wing casing and lock it in position with several wraps of thread directly behind the bead head. Trim the extra holographic tinsel. Whip finish behind the bead head, trim the thread and varnish the thread behind the bead and the bead itself. If you don't varnish the bead it will tarnish quite quickly.