The Bead Head Pheasant Tail. Perhaps the world's best nymph.

This is the first of a series of blogs on my favorite flies. Don’t look for any surprises, these flies are on a lot of other fishermen’s short lists, because they are so effective. Like most fly fishermen I have “tweeked” the original pattern a bit, mostly making it simpler, easier to tie and, in my opinion, more effective.

I think many features included in popular fly patterns are added to attract fly fishermen, not fish. Take legs on nymphs for example. Many mayfly nymphs, especially those that swim when in the water, tuck their legs in and wiggle their abdomen to move. Eliminating the legs from this pattern made it a much faster tie, and I think it catches more fish. Besides, I doubt many of the leg imitations included on nymphs actually LOOK like legs in the water. If I want a leg look, I will add something suggestive of legs instead of actually trying to create them.

When I first started fly fishing and fly tying I wanted to tie every pattern I saw. My favorite pastime was going to the fly shop and picking up the latest and greatest material to tie the latest and greatest pattern.

There is nothing wrong with this, people can pursue their hobbies anyway they like, but if you tie mainly to catch fish and would rather spend time on the water than at the bench, then this is the fly to add to your box. Once you get it down, you can put one out every five to ten minutes. This is a good thing, because you will use a lot of these flies.

These instructions might look intimidating, but this is a very simple tie, and once you get it down you will just whip them out.
Here is how I do it:

Thread: Black.
Its very important to get the right size. 8-0 for the big flies, 10-0 (Gudibrod) or 14-0 Griffin work great for smaller bugs. Thread build up will kill this fly, so use a fine thread.
Hook: Size 14 - 22
In the rivers I fish most are between 18 and 22. Match the most common size in your river.
Bead: Spirit River Gold or Copper bead to match hook size
Get a bunch of hooks with beads before you even start. A good pair of fine tipped tweezers really helps this process. I stick the beaded hooks in a piece of foam.
Rib: Fine copper wire. Tie this onto the hook first, lash on with thread wraps from the bead all the way back to the bend. You palmer it over the body after it is formed.
Tail: Pheasant tail barbs. Cut off some pheasant tail barbs right against the shank of the feather to use for the tail. A little trial and error will help you learn how many to use. Bring them together so the tips are lined up and measure the length you want for the tail (I usually make it a little smaller than the hook shank) Lash the tips at the bend, two or three wraps right on top of each, check the length, adjust if necessary, then lift the butt ends and throw a wrap on the hook up against to the previous wraps (below the tail butts) to lock it in, then wrap the thread up the shank to the bead. You will NOT be lashing down the butt end of the barbs, they are hanging there waiting for you to use them to make the body.
Body: Wrap the butt ends up to the bead and tie off. You can control the thickness of the body by the angle you use when wrapping. Next take the copper wire and palmer it up to the bead and tie off.
Collar: Peacock herl. Believe it or not, you will soon discover that you will have to “size” peacock herl to fit your fly. You will find some herl is much fatter than others, and it will make a difference in how the fly looks. Match the fatness to the proportions you are trying to achieve by tying the fly.
To “bulletproof” the herl, wrap it around your thread a few times then make one or two turns, tie off and you are done! (Note: The flies in the picture have a small amount of Hare's Ear fur (from the actual ear. I don't normally tie it with the fur, it was just an experiment that didn't seem to make any difference to the fish)

Here is a fish caught on this fly. I've posted more on Flicker. Click on the link below. Run the slide show, and you will see the fly in the fish's mouths (with a few exceptions where the fly is next to the fish).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/58755445@N00/3288797843/in/set-72157614006895269/

Getting it going.

I didn't go fishing with Steve again that summer, nor did I go fishing myself. Steve did teach me some rudiments of fly tying, so I practiced that throughout the summer, as well as practicing my cast with the help of some fly casting videos from the late Mel Kreiger. It was this video which finally helped me understand the importance of "loading the rod" and I began to have a good enough cast to not embarrass myself when fishing.

We finally hooked up again in August, and Steve took me to another spot on the Weber, much closer this time. It is a large hole formed by an irrigation weir, the weir creates a five foot water fall which has created the hole. About 6o feet downstream from the waterfall is an island that splits the river into two streams, the one on the south side smaller than the one to the north. Steve put me right in front of the island and said "cast right into the foam created by the fall, and dead drift back". So I did, and eventually caught my first fish on a fly that I had tied myself, and I was more hooked than the fish, (which was released). Not me, I have been hooked on fly fishing ever since.

After the trip I asked Steve when we would go again. He said, "I don't know Tom, but you know you can go fishing by yourself if you want" and I did. I went fishing almost every day. I would charge out of the high school where I teach, drive up the the same hole on the Weber and fish for a couple of hours. I think I had gone fishing over 200 times by the time the next August rolled around, and I kept up that pace for another two years, before my wife put her foot down and (without saying the words) implied that SHE was the best catch of my life, and if I didn't want HER released, I better spend more time at home. So I did, and tried to go only a couple of times a week.

And I caught fish. Hundreds of them, mostly Whitefish, but Browns, Rainbows and Cutthroats as well. I found other holes on the river, all within 10 or 15 minutes of my house. I read books, I watched videos, I bought fly tying materials. I basically packed a life time of fishing into the next three years and now consider myself to be an advanced, knowledgeable fly fisherman. I can talk about fly patterns, fishing techniques, and the places and history of fly fishing with anyone. I would call myself an expert if my casting and fishing skills were more robust and I AM an expert in the techniques I use all of the time. I am only an average dry fly fisherman, but can catch a fish with a nymph in just about any river (and I have) and I am getting pretty good at stillwater fishing as well. I don't do a lot of streamer fishing in rivers, although I have occasionally caught fish on streamers and dry flies in streams.

Next post: Fly tying.