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American Pheasant Tail Nymph

Step-by-Step

Fly and Photos by Loren Williams

The original Pheasant Tail nymph was designed by Frank Sawyer , an English Riverkeeper. The original dressing is much simpler than the dressing I have chosen to display. Frank's "PTN" was tied using only copper wire and pheasant tail fibers. It was most likely intended to mimic the various European baetis nymphs and possibly some of the caddis larvae present in his area. His original was short, slim, contained a ball of wire for the thorax, and had no legs..

As the nymph migrated around it changed. US tyers such as Al Troth added legs to the pattern, not originally present in Sawyer's dressing. An English reservoir angler, Arthur Cove, added a wire rib and rabbit fur thorax.

As far as I can tell, Al Troth is most credited with the version I have elected to tie which has been dubbed the "American Pheasant Tail." Following is a bit of information I've recently received from a friend of Al Troth which more accurately describes how Al tied this fly:

"Loren,

I very much enjoy your site and your style of tying. You should know that Al Troth did not tie his PT in the same fashion that you do. I know Al for many years and had the privelege to sit next to him for hours to watch him tie. We would listen to and discuss jazz and photography while he would fill the many orders for flies that he received. Al is very much a reverse style tier. Being a professional fly tier and an industrial arts teacher he would literally time himself to determine which tying method was most efficient for the many flies he created. Al believed in wrapping materials to the bend and then counter-ribbing to tie them in. He did this for both the abdomen and the thorax of his PT. The tail and abdomen were made from the same section of pheasant tail as you do but he would wrap the tail up to the half way point, he would then tear off all but 3-5 fibers depending on the size of the fly, and then reverse wrap to the tail and tie in/counter rib with wire. He did virtually the same with the peacock thorax. Wrapping backwards and securing with the same wire. You may want to try this style of tying. You get a sparser tie this way and Al was all about sparseness with all of his ties. I look forward to more of your creations. "

This fly is successful for me in both lakes and rivers for a myriad of salmonids under varying conditions. Combine that with the simplicity in tying and commonality of materials it is no wonder that the PTN is one of the world's most popular nymphs.

After the tutorial, I have included photos of some variations that work well for me. They are by no means the only variations I use, but are intended to show that this pattern is easily modified.

MATERIAL LIST

Hook: Mustad 3906B, or any 1XL nymph hook

Weight: Lead wire

Thread: Brown

Tail:Cock Pheasant Tail Fiber tips

Abdomen: Cock Pheasant Tail Fibers

Rib: Fine Copper Wire

Wingcase:Cock Pheasant Tail Fibers

Thorax: Peacock Herl

Legs:Cock Pheasant Tail Fibers

Insert hook into vise after the barb has been flattened. Be sure to have good surface area contact between the hook and jaw surfaces to avoid damaging either.

 

Lay a base of lead wire over the middle 2/3 of the hook shank. Use wire approximately the same

diameter as the hook wire. Here, I am using .025" lead on the #10 Mustad 3906B.

Secure the lead with thread, and begin to build the tapers off each end of the lead underbody. MOve the thread to the rear as shown (above the barb position).

Select a cock pheasant tail feather with barbs that are long enough to built the tail and body of your nymph. Separate a section of fibers from the stem and arrange the tips to be even.

Cut the fibers from the stem.

With your bobbin hand, measure the fibers so that the exposed tips are roughly 1/2 the length of the overall hook. These will form your tail.

Transfer the bundle to your opposite hand, keeping the tips even, and secure with 2 tight wraps of tread on top of each other.

Lift the bundle while maintaining thread tension so they do not torque then advance the thread to the rear taper of the wire underbody.

Catch-in your copper wire rib directly behind the lead underbody...

and secure with thread back to the tail position. Be sure to keep the copper wire on the far side of the hook.

Advance the thread to the MIDDLE of the hook shank. This is the proper position to transition the abdomen and thorax of most nymphs. Many tyers make the mistake of creating a thorax that is too short.

Begin wrapping the PT fibers forward, with the very last wrap coming around IN FRONT of the thread.

Pull the fiber bundle back slightly to the rear....

...and make 2 tight wraps of thread to secure. Clip excess.

Counter-rib the abdomen with the copper wire, wrapping the wire in the opposite direction as the fibers as shown.

Last turn passes in front of the wire...

...is angled back and secured with 2 thread wraps.

Clip the excess using your sacrificial (i.e. "grunt," "dull," "crappy" ) scissors. NEVER cut wire with your good scissors.

Select another bundle of PT fibers as before. This time measure them carefully to be as long as the ENTIRE length of the hook, from eye to bend, as shown.

Secure the bundle at the mid point of the hook. Be sure there are no gaps between the tie-in and the end of the abdomen.

Bind the butt ends down along the thorax and off the wire to build the taper and some bulk. Clip the excess.

Select a bundle of quality peacock herl. For this #10 PTN I have selected about 6 feathers.

Align the tips roughly.

Then lop-off the top 3/4" to remove the weak sections.

Secure at the front of the thorax using a "loose loop" technique to keep the tips together.

Secure to the rear edge of the thorax. Again, be sure not to create any gaps at the transition point.

Move the thread to the front of the thorax.

 

Wrap peacock bundle forward, and as usual, make the final wrap pass in front of the thread, angle it back...

...2 wraps...

...and trim!

Fold the PT wingcase forward, keeping the fibers together and on top.

Bind them down, use your free hand to keep the bundle in tact between wraps if need be. (Excuse the blur.)

With your bobbin hand, use your thumbnail to force the fiber tips to flare up and out.

Then continue to advance your thumb to the rear, forcing the fibers to take position on either side of the wingcase. If you measured correctly, and paid attention to your abdominal proportions, the legs will be just a hair longer than the thorax, and quite attractive.

Keeping the legs folded back, bind them in place using your thread.

Continue, forming a neat head about the same size as the hook eye.

Whip finish.

Completed American Pheasant Tail Nymph.

Hot Spot ("Infected") PTN using orange angora for the thorax.

Hot Spot Bead Head PTN.