My best Pheasant Tail Nymphs from 2013

I often have the debate with friends which classic nymph is better, the Pheasant tail or the Hares ear nymph. For me I tend to lean towards hares ears and they are mostly my go to nymph in any fishery. I have great confidence and belief in these flies and they continuously produce good catches for me . Saying that a lot of anglers have the same confidence in Pheasant tails, and I do share that belief, just might not reach for my box of PTs as quick as my hares ears if I am struggling to get some fish. However as you can see i always carry a nice selection of phesant tails with me. 

It was in Frank Sawyers’ book 'Nymphs and the Trout' first published in 1958 where he describes the method of tying and fishing this nymph. The design of the fly is significantly different from other flies in that Sawyer did not use thread to construct the fly, instead opting to use very fine copper wire. This has two effects; it adds weight to the fly, enabling it to be fished deeper than similar patterns, and adds a subtle brightness to an otherwise plain fly.
He twisted the wire and pheasant tail fibers around one another, and wrapped them forward together, forming the thorax and abdomen. A few good variations have been developed over the years, but when you strip them away, it's still Sawyer's elegantly simple, devastatingly effective nymph. The Pheasant tail nymph is and has been sense the publishing of Franks book globally renowned as one of the greatest flies of all time. Like most dressing the original pattern has undergone many changes and developments due the production and addition of many synthetic materials to the existing natural feather that is from the tail of the cock pheasant. 

I grew up in the country side of Co Wicklow, raring and hunting pheasants is a part of the way of life there, this meaning that I had an abundance of tail feathers all different in colour and size to tie these nymphs. 

With this simple material on its own and a bit of copper wire that I used to get from the back of old tv's you could create a cracking fly that will catch a lot of fish. With the addition of some other materials these nymphs can imitate many forms of the natural food for trout and con even the cleverest of brownies into a take. Here are some of the nymphs that have worked really well for me this season:

Hook: Size 14 Hends Jig hook with a flat lead under-body & 3mm gold tungsten slotted bead
Thread: Red twist tying thread
Tail: Ginger cock hackle fibers 
Tag: Red holographic tinsel
Rib: Fine gold wire 
Body: Natural pheasant tail Dubbing for the collar: Natural squirrel with a turn of Hends UV ice dubbing and brushed out well, finish with some of the red thread showing behind the bead.

Hook: Size 16 Hends BL200
Flat lead under-body & 2.5mm gold tungsten bead
Thread: Olive twist tying thread
Tail:  Ginger cock hackle fibers.
Tag: Glo-brite no 5.
Rib: Fine gold wire. 
Body: Natural pheasant tail
 Collar: Hends Spectra dubbing no 46.

Hook: Size 14 Hends Grubber.  hook with a Flat lead under-body & 2.5mm gold tungsten bead.
Thread: Red twist tying thread.
Tail:  Ginger cock hackle fibers.
Rib: Fine gold wire.
Back & Thorax cover: Pearl flat tinsel brought up the full length of the nymph.
Body: Natural pheasant tail.
Thorax: Hends Spectra dubbing no 46 with some of the red thread showing behind the bead.

These three nymphs are not that far apart in their dressings but yet I do find that with pheasant tail nymphs even the slightest of difference in the dressing of the fly can be very important in trying to match what the trout are looking for.
I hope you enjoyed this post and if you would like to see some more flies that I have found to be productive you can follow this blog by putting your email in the follow box on the right. Thank you for taking your time to read this. 

Jig Hook Nymphs with CDC

Over the last number of seasons the use of CDC in nymph dressings has increased dramatically, this development has given an extra but simple benefit to already productive nymph patterns.  I have been using CDC for many years on my dries and I know it is a great material for catching fish through this method. It was a couple of seasons ago when I was fishing some rivers in Norway that I was given a small gold wire nymph and told that this was working really well at the time for trout, the dressing was very simple a gold bead with gold wire wound up the body in touching turns and it had a CDC hackle just behind the bead head; the hackle folded beautifully down over the body when the fly was in the water and gave it a real natural and fishy look.
Sense then I have been adding this feather to some of my nymphs in different forms, on my micro nymphs ill pluck some fibers from the feather and dubb them onto the thread then wind them on just behind the bead and brush out the fibers, on the larger nymphs ill wind on or spin on the CDC hackle which allows the long hackles to create the look I want with the nymph. After been asked recently how to achieve this look I will show you and it is really straight forward.

Firstly once you have reached the stage of the body is complete with ribbing and what ever else you chose, then get a CDC feather that has a reasonable consistency to is hackle lengths like on the picture, then by brushing back the fibers near the tip tie in the stalk and simply wind on the hackle and brush it back as you wind on with your finger tips, once it is wound on as many turns as you require then wind the thread through the hackles and tie it off. To complete the fly I would add in a turn of some dubbing depending on the finished look I want and brush this out and back to allow all the materials at the head of the fly to blend in together. 

Here are some of my more successful nymphs with CDC:

Hook: Size 10 Hends jig BJ120 

Bead: 3mm slotted tungsten sliver bead with a flat lead underbody

Thread: Olive twist tying thread

Tail: Cock De Leon

Tag: Glo-brite no 5

Rib: Hends blue patina tinsel

Body: Grey Hares ear dubbing 

Hackle: Hends light grey CDC

Collar: Grey Hares ear dubbing brushed back well.

Hook: Size 12 Hends jig BJ120 

Bead: 3mm slotted tungsten sliver bead with a flat lead underbody

Thread: Olive twist tying thread

Tail: Cock De Leon

Tag: Glo-brite no 5

Rib: Hends medium peral tinsel

Body: Natural phesant tail  

Hackle: Natural CDC

Collar: Hends spectra dubbing no 46.

Hook: Size 12 Hends jig BJ120 

Bead: 3mm slotted tungsten gold bead with a flat lead under-body

Thread: Black twist tying thread

Tail: Cock De Leon

Tag: Green holographic tinsel

Rib: Hends green wire

Body: Pheasant tail dyed olive

Hackle: Hends olive CDC

Collar: Hends spectra dubbing no 46.

I generally fish these nymphs on the point of a team of nymphs using the weight of these nymphs to drag down the smaller nymphs that are on droppers, this can be effective when you are fishing in early season or in heavy water. Allowing the Jig hook nymph to trot down the current into the path of hopefully a hungry trout. I hope you have enjoyed reading this post and try out this addition to your nymphs it really does add to the productivity of your flies. You can sign in and follow this blog to be updated when the next post goes up with more flies, just enter your email in the box on the right and thanks for reading.

Hares Ear Nymphs

This natural dubbing that is taking from the face or mask of a Hare has been used to dress nymphs and flies for over 200 years and is still as popular and productive for tying nymphs today. The nymphs of today have varied quite a bit with the additions of synthetic materials being added to the fly, dying and mixing the natural fur also has helped the evolution of the Hares Ear Nymph. The dubbing in general gets used in millions of dressings and is a easy dubbing to use, along with its nice soft texture it can be dubbed on tight to the body or be brushed out to create a nice full and natural style to any fly. 
My first experience of this material and nymph was in the form of a small un-weighted nymph that I bought as a kid with some Pheasant tail covering a simple thorax and a copper rib, when I swung down and across in a wet style fashion on my home river and once it started the swing across the river a trout would rise and take it; when the conditions were just right it was unmatchable. Some time later when I began to tie flies the Hares Ear mask was one of the first pieces of material that I bought under the instructions of my coach, the late Noel Shields.  He began to teach me several patterns that this fur could be used on and from there it became a favorite dubbing and component to a lot of my best flies.  Over the years I have tied thousands of nymphs with this dubbing as the body and each of them have varied in one way or another, through mixing dubbings or adding tags, tails, wings ect; but it is still that natural piece of fur that give the fly its life and is irresistible to feeding trout. Here are some of my most successful Hares Ear Nymphs: 

Hares Ear Jig Hook
Hook: Hends Jig hook size 14
Flat lead under-body & 2.5mm Black tungsten bead
Thread: Black twist tying thread
Tail: Glo-brite no 11
Rib: Fine sliver wire 
Dubbing: Main body is natural Hares ear mixed with a small pinch of Hends ice dubbing, the collar is Hends Spectra dubbing no 46.

Small Hares Ear
Hook: Size 18 B175 Kamasan
Flat lead under-body & 2mm gold tungsten bead
Thread: Olive twist tying thread
Tail: Cock De Leon fibers 
Tag: Glo-brite no 12
Rib: Fine gold wire 
Dubbing: Main body is natural Hares ear, the collar is Hends Spectra dubbing no 32.

Pearly Hares Ear
Hook: Size 14 Hends grubber hook
Flat lead under-body & 2.5mm sliver tungsten bead
Thread: Black twist tying thread
Rib: Hends med pearl tinsel  
Dubbing: Hares ear mixed with a small pinch of Hends ice dubbing.

A lake Hares Ear Nymph 

Hook: Size 8 Hends 321 hook
Thread: Black twist tying thread
Tail: Glo-brite no 12 & several fibers of olive Krystal flash
Rib: Gold wire 
Dubbing: Main body is natural Hares ear
Thorax cover: Natural pheasant tail fibers 
Thorax: Natural Hares Ear but use the lighter part of the mask.


One key ingredient in all these flies is that I brush them out very well I fell it adds to the fish-ability of the dressing, I prefer to use a cut down tooth brush to achieve this as it allows me to dig deep into the dubbing and draw the fibers out. The first three flies are river nymphs and I have them in my box in all sizes from 18 to 10 or even size 8 for the jig hook nymph. I use the different weights and sizes depending on the depth of the river I am fishing. You can also change the colour of the tails and tags, this is worth trying to see what hot spot colour suits your river system. Also it is worth playing around with your dubbing and try mixing in different synthetic materials to enhance the natural material, the Hends Ice dubbing is really worth trying.  
The last Nymph is one I fish on lakes its not weighted as the fly lines take the fly down if needed, it is a great fly when fished deep and retrieved very slowly, it represents many forms of the trouts diet and can be very effective for those bigger fish hiding deep.
I hope you enjoyed this post and if you have any comments or questions please feel free to post them, also you can enter your email and follow this blog to see what flies will be coming shortly.