Pheasant Tail Nymph

Nymph imitating mayflies, for trout and grayling. Beginner. Frank Sawyer, 1958.

Four pheasant tail fibres and fine copper wire, with no thread: a short tail, a slim body, a wire thorax hump and a double wing case.

Materials

Steps

  1. Add weight: fine red copper wire Wrap the fine red copper wire in touching turns from halfway along the shank to 85% of the way along the shank. Three or four overlapping layers just in front of the middle of the shank.
  2. Attach thread Attach the thread at 90% of the way along the shank with a few turns and trim the tag end. The same wire: wind it back over the shank to the bend.
  3. Wrap thread Wrap the thread to the start of the bend in touching turns.
  4. Tie in: cock pheasant centre tail fibres Tie in the cock pheasant centre tail fibres, leaving 0.9× the gape sticking out behind. Tips first, under two turns of wire. Pheasant tail cuts easily, so go gently.
  5. Wrap thread Wrap the thread to 52% of the way along the shank in touching turns.
  6. Tie in: pheasant tail fibres (the butts, folded over) Tie in the pheasant tail fibres (the butts, folded over) with a few firm thread turns. Lying back over the tail for now.
  7. Wrap thread Wrap the thread to 90% of the way along the shank in touching turns. In Sawyer's method the wire is twisted round the fibres and wound with them.
  8. Wind: cock pheasant centre tail fibres Wind the cock pheasant centre tail fibres forward to 90% of the way along the shank in 12 turns. Touching turns over the abdomen and thorax.
  9. Tie off: cock pheasant centre tail fibres Tie off the cock pheasant centre tail fibres with a few thread turns and trim the excess.
  10. Pull over: pheasant tail fibres (the butts, folded over) Pull the pheasant tail fibres (the butts, folded over) forward over the top of the body and tie it down at 90% of the way along the shank. Trim the excess. Over the thorax, then back and forward again: a double, darker wing case.
  11. Whip finish Form a small head, whip finish with 5 turns and cut the thread. A few turns of wire behind the eye; break off the excess.

History

Frank Sawyer was a river keeper on the Wiltshire Avon from 1925 until he died on its banks at Netheravon in 1980, from 1928 for the Officers' (later Services Dry Fly) Fishing Association. He saw that olive nymphs swim with their legs tucked in, so his nymph has no hackle, and he tied it with fine copper wire in place of silk, which also gives it weight; Sporting Road says the wire came from a relay coil. The fly was published in Nymphs and the Trout in 1958; when he first tied it is less certain: Sporting Road dates the method to the 1930s, Fly Fishing the Sierra the fly to the 1950s. He often tied it on the river bank, without a vise.

Fishing it

Made for clear chalk streams, where the trout can be seen: cast well upstream of the fish, let the nymph sink to its depth, and as it comes near, lift the rod gently so the nymph swims up in front of it: Sawyer's induced take. It also catches fish on lakes, worked slowly below the surface.

Sources