“Three Pheasant Tail” Soft Hackles

[joaniebo]

From a write-up I did recently for our local TU Chapter's monthly newsletter:

Approx. 15 or so years ago, a German fellow who posted on “The Classic Rod Forum” sent me an e-mail with a picture of a soft hackled nymph dressed with a pheasant tail body; gold wire ribbing; a Hungarian partridge hackle and a gold bead that was placed BEHIND the partridge hackle.

All the gold beaded nymphs I had seen previously had the bead situated right behind the hook eye, at the front of the dressing or hackle.

I tied a few of this new fly and took them to the Wisconsin Driftless Area waters and immediately caught quite a few trout. For many years, my (and a couple fishing Amigos’) go-to soft hackled nymph was this fly that I called a “Bead Head Pheasant Tail Soft Hackled Nymph.”

For many years, when I got streamside, I immediately tied a Crackleback to the end of my leader / tippet, added a couple feet of new tippet attached to the Crackleback’s hook bend and tied this soft hackled nymph to the end of the added tippet.

Gradually, I started tying other pheasant tail and partridge hackled flies using peacock herl, various colored dubbings in the thorax area while omitting the gold bead in the thorax. Many of these modified dressings worked well for me and, to this day, I still fish MANY soft hackles and nymphs with pheasant tailed bodies.

Here’s a picture of three pheasant tail and partridge dressings using a bead, peacock herl or a bright colored dubbing between the fly’s body and the partridge hackle.

Bead Head Pheasant Tail Soft Hackled Nymph; Peacock Herl Thorax PT Soft Hackle; and Hot Spot Pheasant Tail Soft Hackle

HOOK: 10 – 16.
BEAD: - sized according to the hook used.
THREAD: - Danville 6/0 Orange (you can also use different colored threads, if desired)
BODY: - Rooster Pheasant Tail (4 – 6 pieces depending on hook size).
TAIL: - Rooster Pheasant Tail, same as the body.
RIB: - Small or X-tra Small gold wire depending on hook size
THORAX: - Gold bead; peacock herl or a bright nymph / wet fly colored dubbing.
HACKLE: - 3 turns of Partridge

[kakaJohn3]

Love it very tidy made. I tied few already cant wait till march to try it out.












Greetings
KakaJohn
https://minkafly.com/

[Roadkill]

Great ties, I love the effect with the flowing bright thorax!

[Brooktrout52]

Nice looking flies.

[redietz]

Great ties, I love the effect with the flowing bright thorax!

As do I. And with bright yellow, it would make a great sulfur emerger.

[joaniebo]

Great ties, I love the effect with the flowing bright thorax!

As do I. And with bright yellow, it would make a great sulfur emerger.

Great idea. I'll have to do some with the yellow dubbing. Thanks.

Bob

[Theroe]

very nice, Bob.
Some years back, Oliver Edwards penned an article "Time to bury the bead". This resonated with me, as i am not a fan of bead head flies. They do work, and i do use them. Patterns I do use contain a matte black tungsten bead hidden in the thorax area for weight.

Dana

[Fishnkilts]

I, like Dana, am not a fan of the bead either but I have to admit that personally I like the looks of the bead behind the hackle. I think it looks more natural and way more cool.

Great looking flies. I'm going to tie some up like in the photo and see how I do.

[DUBBN]

I am a fan of catching fish. If beads are what it takes, sign me up.

Great PT patterns.

[Ron Eagle Elk]

I am a fan of catching fish. If beads are what it takes, sign me up.

Great PT patterns.

Amen! (Well, except for dry flies.)