The fly box · No. 20 of 36
Pheasant Tail Nymph
Slim, swimming mayfly nymphs, especially the olives.
- Kind
- Nymph
- Hook sizes
- 12–18
- Season
- Spring, summer, autumn, winter
- For
- Trout and grayling
- At the vice
- An easy tie
The dressing
| Hook | Standard or heavy-wire nymph hook, down eye, barbless, sizes 12–18 |
|---|---|
| Thread | None in the original; fine reddish copper wire is used in place of tying thread |
| Tail | Tips of three or four cock pheasant centre tail fibres, about half the shank long |
| Body | The same pheasant tail fibres twisted round the copper wire and wound to the thorax |
| Rib | The copper wire itself, twisted with the fibres so that it shows through as fine ribbing |
| Hackle | None |
| Wing | Wing case of the pheasant fibre butts, folded back and forward over the thorax |
| Also | Thorax hump built from extra turns of copper wire under the wing case; a touch of varnish on the finishing turns |
Tying it
- Run fine copper wire from behind the eye to the bend and back, building a small hump of turns where the thorax will sit.
- Tie in four pheasant tail fibres by their tips at the bend with the wire, leaving the tips as a short tail.
- Twist the fibres gently round the wire and wind them together up the shank to just behind the eye.
- Separate wire from fibres, take the wire back behind the thorax hump and fold the fibre butts back over the hump.
- Bring the wire forward to the eye, fold the fibres forward again to finish the wing case, and secure with three or four turns of wire.
- Trim the butts, break off the wire and seal the turns with a small drop of varnish.
Fishing it
This is a sight-fishing nymph for clear water. Pitch it well upstream of a fish you can see, on a 5X (0.15 mm) or 6X (0.13 mm) tippet, and let it sink on a dead drift to the level of the trout. As it comes within reach, lift the rod tip a few inches so the fly swims upward. That small rise is the induced take that Sawyer taught, and fish that ignored the drifting nymph will often turn on it. Watch the fish, or the leader where it enters the water, and tighten gently.
Where it comes from
Frank Sawyer, river keeper on the Wiltshire Avon, watched olive nymphs swim with their legs tucked flat against the body and dressed a fly to match: a few pheasant tail fibres and fine copper wire, with no thread, no hackle and no legs. The wire gives weight and a dull red glint; the fibres give a segmented, living outline.