Pheasant tail nymphs

[Markbob 0]

In my search for new tying books and such, I have been looking at a lot of "recipies" for the pheasant tail nymph fly and I have noticed that some of them tie in legs and some do not.

Do you tie them in to yours?

DO you think that a fish might refuse a fly based on the lack of legs?

[rstout 0]

I always tie them in. When I fold over the wing case, the legs are right in front of me so I tie them in. Do I think a trout would refuse it for not having legs... No. To each his own preference. The legs are so slim and fine, a trout would have to inspect it awful close first. In moving water, legs are less important. General color, shape, and size are more important in my opinion. The sawyer nymph is about as plain as a nymph can be and trout eat it.

 

Rob

[whatfly 0]

Always. Does it matter to the fish? Not sure, but it matters to me. My variation is I typically use hen or partridge for the legs, instead of the more traditional method.

[Markbob 0]

I hadn't thought of using hen or partidge for legs, I am frequently having issues with getting the pheasant tail fibers to tie in right so that I dont have to trim them for being too long and then they look odd and really thick.