Fly Tying
The Pheasant Tail River Nymph Fly Pattern
A Beginner’s Guide: How to tie the Pheasant Tail River Nymph bead head nymph
I’ve been a fan of Makflies’ patterns for a while now. Hailing from the UK, he ties some pretty sweet buzzer, bumble, and czech-style nymphs with updated materials and a keen eye for his subtle use of flash.
The Pheasant Tail River Bug is a great little pattern for western rivers and creeks. I like to tie it in sizes 12–14 in lime green, pink, and purple — varying the bead colors. Fish it close to the bottom as a point-fly with a small dart behind it. It’s easy to tie up a dozen of them in less than 30-minutes so we ‘could’ consider it a Guide Fly. The video for tying this pattern is available on Mak’s YouTube page, I stuck pretty close to his original pattern.
Tying Tips
- Start with more PT fibers if they are short. Sometimes the pheasant tail fibers are a bit too short to be able to wrap the entire length of the body while leaving room to tie down at the bead. If you’re working with short fibers, just tie in 6 or more to start. This will build the body faster with less turns, so make sure you don’t overlap too much.
- Use a rotary vise. I like using a rotary vise, like my Renzetti Traveler 2200 Cam Series Vise, when I’m wrapping bodies with delicate materials like pheasant tail or peacock herl. I find the fibers break less and I can get nice even wraps without the ‘blind-spot’ on the back end of the fly.
Pattern Taxonomy
- Family — General Attractor
- Category — Beadhead Nymph
- Lifecycle Stage — Nymph
- Style — Euro / Czech Nymph
- Best for Seasons — Fall, Winter
- Best Time of Day — All Day
Ingredients
- Hook: Firehole Sticks 321, size 12–14
- Bead: Black tungsten bead, size 3.2mm
- Thread: Semperfli Waxed Thread Black 12/0
- Underbody: Globright №12 Lime Green floss
- Body: 5–6 Pheasant tail fibers, natural color
- Ribbing: Semperfli .2mm Copper Wire
- Collar: Arizona Diamond Dub Olive
Steps
- Fix bead on hook
- Wrap entire body in Globright floss from the bead-to-halfway down hook bend
- Return floss to bead, whip finish
- Attach black thread at bead, open wrap half way down the bard length, attach wire
- Attach pheasant tail fibers, return thread to bead
- Wrap pheasant tail fibers up to bead, tie off
- Wrap wire up to bead, tie off and helicopter excess
- Whip finish and prep a small dubbing loop with loosely wrapped dub
- Wrap dubbing, whip finish and cut thread
- Finish with water-based glue dropped down bead eye hole.
Additional Resources
Related Patterns
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