Pheasant Tail Nymph

[njflytyer 0]

Been practicing the PT nymph a few times now and I just can't seem to figure out a few things. For ease, I'm tying it on a size 14 2X long nymph hook. I'll go thru the process in detail below and explain where I encounter the problems. Hopefully someone can help.

 

1. Slip on bead. Start dark brown thread.

 

2. Tie in a piece of copper wire near the hook bend.

 

3. Tie in 5-6 fibers of PT at the midpoint of the hook such that the tips of the fibers extend beyond the hook bend by about 1/2 the shank length. I tie in the fibers from the bend all the way to the bead b/c if I don't my nymphs end up looking scrawny later on. After I tie up to the bead, I trim the tiny amound of excess I have left.

 

4. Just above the hook bend I tie in about 8-9 fibers (with the tips facing the eye) and secure it in by wrapping the thread just a tiny bit towards the hook bend. This gives me an anchor for my body material. I then start wrapping the fibers forward building a body and tie it off at the bead, wrapping a few times to help secure the bead as well.

 

5. I then wrap the copper wire forward 4 times and tie that off near the bead.

 

6. Just behind the bead I tie in 6 fibers for the wingcase/legs. The tips of the fibers are pointed towards the eye and overshoot the eye by about 1/2 shank length. As I secure these fibers, I wrap the thread towards the hook bend just a tiny bit, creating a small platform to tie my herl in.

 

7. I tie two strands of herl in. I make about 8-10 wraps of the herl in a crisscross pattern to form a ball shape and then trim excess.

 

8. Here's where the real problem starts. Since I only used 6 fibers for the wingcase/legs, when I pull the wingcase over, it looks very narrow. You can't even tell that its a wingcase. I look at my store bought flies and the wingcase is much fatter. As I'm trying to tie the wingcase down, I'm also trying to separate the legs into two sets of three, but its not cooperating. I use my left hand to hold down the legs and wingcase in the correct position and then start doing some light wraps over the wingcase. Very awkward.

 

9. During the whip finish I also tend to get legs caught up.

 

So basically I have three issues:

 

1) My PT fibers don't seem bulky/fuzzy enough. At least when compared to closeups taken in tying recipes like this one which I followed. The photos in that one show the PT as being fuzzy. Mine don't seem that way. Maybe its just b/c its a closeup shot. Are there quality grades for PT feathers?

 

2) I experimented with the wingcase/legs issue by tying in 10-12 fibers instead of the six and then trimming the extra legs off. This gave me a fuller wingcase, but looked a little funny b/c its hard to know which legs to trim to give a nice symmetrical appearance.

 

3) Even if I'm lucky and can separate the legs nicely and they are just the right length, I always end up screwing them up when I tie the wingcase down and/or whip finish.

 

There's got to be an easier way! :wallbash:

[Redwings1 0]

Ha! Sounds like you may be over critical of your own work, but they should fish just fine. That being said...here is what I would say to your questions:

 

1. When it comes to natural feathers or fur there will always be some that is better than others, but I am not aware of a rating system for pheasant tail feathers. My suggestion would be to just go through the materials at the shop you go to and pull out the feathers that best suit the color, average length, and fiber consistency you are looking for.

 

2. Unless you are marketing your flies for sale as a specific pattern, I would use the pattern only as a suggestion. Base your pattern adjustments on what you observe in the streams that you will be fishing. If the color is off then change it. If you want a meatier wing case then by all means add more fibers. For my PT nymphs I do not use herl for the upper boddy segment, but rather a dubbing loop. That allows me to cut all the wing case fibers off and just pick out the dubbing to represent the legs.

 

3. If you go the dubbing loop route that should clear up yuor issue with 'screwing up' the legs when you whip finish.

 

Hope this help!

 

-mike

[njflytyer 0]

3. If you go the dubbing loop route that should clear up yuor issue with 'screwing up' the legs when you whip finish.

 

OK. I haven't seen tying instructions anywhere on how to do this. Can you provide a URL if you have one? I can always look at my FT benchside reference.

 

Maybe you're right about being too critical. The fly is supposed to catch the fish and the not fisherman, right?

[Redwings1 0]

Dubbing loop will definitely be in the Reference. All you do is create a loop with your thread, place dubbing inside the loop, and spin to trap the dubbing and flare it out. Then wrap like regular dubbing.

[flytyer56 0]

Check out "www.buckeyeflyfishers.com" schroll down the left side of the page to fly tying, go to pheasant tail nymph and click on that. Bob shows a different way to get bulk on the wing case with-out adding a bunch of extra fibers for the legs.

As far as messing up the legs when you whip finish, I hold the legs back with my left hand while I whip finish it. It's awkward at first but just stick with it, it will come!

[deeky 0]

My wing cases started looking a lot better when I started using Flexament on the fibers. It holds the fibers together, but keeps them from bunching up in a rope. Also, I wouldn't worry about the exact number of legs. I've never had a fish stop to count before hitting.

[flytire 0]

Go thru this tutorial: http://www.troutflies.com/tutorials/pt/index.shtml

[carlp5351 0]

Goto

 

www.charliesflyboxinc.com

 

Goto the flybox on the right. Scroll and find pheasant tail. you can print out the insructions. His instructions are the best.

 

Carl

[Gregg A 0]

Be sure to keep us posted on your progress. I'm curious to see how it going.