Pheasant Tail Nymph and Pheasant Tail Dry

Pheasant Tail Nymph

Pheasant tail nymphs (PTN) tend to be split into 3 generalised camps, the original Sawyers PTN made from copper wire and pheasant tail herl, the Coves PTN and the more common PTN variants which basically follow one of the two above designs but with thread instead of wire and often incorporates a brass, copper or tungsten bead along with other variations discussed later.

Sawyers Pheasant Tail Nymph

This fly was described by Oliver Kite as one of the most effective nymph patterns ever devised. Frank Sawyer devised this fly on the Chalk streams of his home waters on the Upper Wiltshire Avon. An outstanding naturalist with a very keen eye of observation as well as a gifted fly fisherman. Sawyer applied his attention to the study of mayfly nymphs and to imitating them as effectively as possible which led then to a long process of pattern development lasting many years and culminating in this, his most famous design.Sawyer said “I found that there was no need for any exact likeness of one or another and that if most of the details and characteristics of several species could be incorporated…. fish could be taken consistently on them.” He was a man who relied on the principle of GISS (General Impression of Size and Shape) and as such had relatively few, but very effective, patterns for his trout fishing. Sawyer also pointed out that when a mayfly nymph is rising to emerge, its legs fold in alongside its body and are not visible. So he saw no use for legs in his imitations. Although originally conceived and perfected on a chalk stream it rose to infamy due to its ability to catch trout on any water type be it Chalk stream, Spate river and Stillwater of any size.

Add onto this the simplicity of design and the fact that only 2 materials are used, making it very quick and easy to tie. All that is needed is fine copper wire and 4 herls from a centre tail of a cock pheasant mounted on a size 12-16 hook. Sawyer himself said: “simplicity is an aim to be desired.” Smaller sizes can be created although the substitution of thread for the wire and a hen pheasant tail herl instead of the cock one. These changes certainly make the smaller fly alot less fidely to tie, though at the sacrifice of the weight element of the wire.

When fished with the correct presentation and behavior this fly is a representation of all the olive nymphs, iron blue, blue winged olive as well as sepia and clarets, as well as several non mayfly species, giving it a very broad spectrum and versatility as regards species targeted. It aslo, due to its shape, is able to penetrate the surface and sink quickly with less splashing or disturbance, so less likely to spook a sensetive trout.

Sawyers Pheasant tail nymph Davie McPhail

This artificial really comes into its own when there are few or no rises and the trout are hunting beneath the surface and lower down for their food. When this is the case, a weighted fly is necessary as the majority of their food lives on, in or very close to the bottom. Underneath stones and in clumps of weed are difficult places to hunt for food but the Baetis nymphs are generally good swimmers making them easier to prey upon for the fish. Or should I say easier to find because of their streamlined torpedo shaped bodies and the strong agile darting swimming technique they employ makes catching them not quite so easy.

On rivers it is best fished on a dead drift near to or along the bed of the river followed by the Leisenring lift or induced take which often makes a reticent trout strike. Cast upstream and allow the current to present your Pheasant Tail in a natural manner. Alternatively, cast across the stream, allow the fly to sink, and as the fly approaches the feeding trout, stop the line and allow the fly to rise in the water. If you can see the trout watch it for a reaction, or alternatively if it can not be seen watch the tip of the fly line or site aid for any movement and, if seen, lift the rod tip and gently set the hook.

On lakes, this is a very effective fly in the middle of the day with a floating line and a greased leader, retrieve the fly very slowly and smoothly just below the surface or along the bottom. Every now and then dart the fly forward as if it is trying to escape from the advances of a predatory fish, paying particular attention to shallow areas near weed beds. The Leisenring lift also works well at the end of the retrieve.

Frank Sawyer tying a Pheasant tail nymph

Video of Frank Sawyer himself tying a Pheasant tail nymph and Pheasant tail

Hook ; Nymph hook Kamasan B175 size 12-16

Thread ; Fine copper wire

Tail ; 4 Cock pheasant centre tail fibres

Body ; same cock pheasant fibres ribbed with fine copper wire

Thorax ; copper wire

Wing cases ; same cock pheasant fibres

Head ; copper wire varnished

Coves Pheasant Tail Nymph

Originally designed by Arthur Cove as an imitation of a buzzer (chironomid pupae) specifically for fishing from the banks of the large reseviors. It has proven to be a good representative of many forms of trout prey in a stillwater situation.

The fly should be fished slowly, on a long leader, anywhere from just below the surface right the way down to the base of the lake, whilst being ready for anything from a slow draw to a snatched take by the trout.

Variants of this fly are basically different coloured dyed pheasant tail, such as Green, Olive, Grey, Black and Claret

Coves Pheasant tail nymph Davie McPhail

Hook ; wet fly hook size 8-14

Thread ; Black or Brown

Body ; Cock pheasant centre tail fibres tied part way round the bend, ribbed with fine copper wire

Thorax ; rabbit underfur dubbing

Wing cases ; Cock pheasant tail fibres

Head ; Tying thread varnished

Pheasant Tail Nymph Variants

Variants of Sawyers PTN are multitudinal and it could even be argued that Coves PTN is such. The vast majority of the variants dispose of the copper wire body, though still use it for the ribbing to protect the herl. Tying thread of various colours is used instead of the wire which makes it alot easier to tie. The herl can also be of various colours, such as Olive or black. The Thorax instead of being wraps of wire, peacock herl or dubbing, such as hares ear or rabbit fur, is used to bulk up the fly and covered by the pheasant herl wingcase. The dubbing can be mixed with various sparkle or UV flashy fibres to help the trout to pick out the fly easier or be of different colours such as black, olive, green, orange or claret to give a hotspot effect. The same treatment can be given to the wing cases which are replaced by highly visable products such as Pearl Lurex to suggest the gases trapped within the skin of the mature nymph as it rises up through the water column, and known as flashback PTN.

The issue of the lack of weight for the fly with the removal of the copper wire is compensated for in some designs by using a small amount of lead wire wrapped around the hook at the beginning of the tying process, though more commonly by the use of Brass, Copper or Tungston beads added just behind the eye to help it gain the depth required when being fished.

Legs are also added by some designs, though as stated earlier the nymphs hold their legs in close when swimming so this may be more to catch anglers than fish. But there is a thinking that the legs help to create minute vibrations and disturbance in the water similar to the action of a swimming nymph, so there may be some use for them. Occasional variants instead of legs have a cock hackle for the same purpose.

Perhaps the strangest of all variants came about when Oliver Kite noticed that the Sawyer PTN still caught trout even when most of the herl had been chewed off by the trout, leaving the copper wire. The bare hook nymph is just the copper wire wound round the hook as if tying a Sawyer PTN. but that is all. When presented well and fished correctly so that it behaves like a natural nymph it still catches a good amount of trout.

Pheasant tail

Pheasant Tail Dry Fly

Created in Devon in the early 1900's (Possibly 1901) by Payne Collier, it works as a very basic and non specific representaion of many mayflies, especially the Olives, or sedges in the form of a classic spinner pattern and has proved itself as a very reliable go to fly in a versatile range of conditions. As well as an emerger it imitates various returning and dying spinners that are found littering the waters surface throughout the day but especially in the evening. The Pheasant Tail Fly will often produce fish when all else has failed, it is always worth trying the fly on unfamiliar waters when unsure what pattern to use, This fly still catches plenty of fish on the lakes and rivers of Britain.

Blue dun hackles also work well but brown and red ones do not appear to be as good.

Variant - Pheasant Tail Parachute

This dry fly is a useful prospector and very productive as a spinner or hatching mayfly. The parachute post helps to make the Pheasant Tail more visible and the horizontal hackle allows the fly sink deeper into the film.
Fly sizes: 12-18.

Pheasant tail

Hook ; size 14-16

Thread ; black or sometimes yellow

Tail ; Honey dun hackle fibres

Body ; Cock pheasant fibres ribbed with fine copper wire or gold wrap

Hackle ; Honey dun cock hackle

Greenwells Glory

This is a traditional fly pattern dating back to 1854 that has well and truly passed the test of time and is considered by many to be a classic all over the fly fishing world. The winged wet fly was the original pattern originating on the river tweed. Devised by Canon William Greenwell and tied by James Wright. As with the case of all the best flies, variants have been spawned in the hope that a successful combination of materials and colours will work well in a slightly different style of tying.

Greenwells Glory Dry Fly

An imitation of the Dun or Spinner of Iron Blue Dun (Baetis muticus), both the Large dark olive (B. rhodani ) size 12-14 and Small dark olive (B. scambus) size 16-18 and Medium olive (B. vernus), on the river. As well as Lake olive (Cloeon simile) and pond olive (C. dipterum) on stillwaters; also as buzzers and even sedges.

If olives are on the water it is well advised to give it a try, because olives of one sort or another are hatching in almost every month of the year the Greenwell is an excellant standby pattern in any fly box.

Hook Size; 12-16 Kamasan B170
Thread; Primrose pulled through brown cobblers wax.
Tail; None, (sometimes given a tail to aid floatability, if so then greenwell cock fibres)
Body; Primrose tying silk well waxed to produce a shade of olive
Rib; fine gold wire
Hackle; Greenwell cock (light furnace)
Wing; Hen Blackbird or pale starling wing or moorhen substitute. the wingless version has a medium blue dun cock hackle in front of the furnace.

Greenwells parachute

as with the dry fly but with the hackle tied parachute fasion so it sits lower in the water film.

Hook Size; 12-14 Kamasan B170
Thread; Primrose pulled through brown cobblers wax.
Tail; Greenwell cock hackle fibres)
Body; Primrose tying silk well waxed to produce a shade of olive
Rib; fine gold wire
Hackle; Greenwell cock (light furnace)
Wing; Hen Blackbird or pale starling wing or moorhen substitute.

Greenwell glory Dry fly

Greenwells Glory Wet Fly

A good top dropper fly for the river especially when olives are hatching. a good early season fly on the stillwaters.

Hook Size; 12-16
Thread; Primrose pulled through brown cobblers wax.
Tail; Coch-y-bondhu hackle fibres
Body; Primrose tying silk well waxed to produce a shade of olive
Rib; optional, fine gold wire or oval tinsel
Hackle; Greenwell hen throat hackle (light furnace) or coch-y-bondhu (sparse)
Wing; inside of Hen Blackbird wing or pale starling wing is a suitable substitute.

Greenwell glory Wet fly

Greenwells Spider

Evolving from the winged wet greenwells glory, this a wingless spider variant represents the same iron blue and olive nymphs.

always a useful pattern for the river fisher when olives are about.

Hook Size; 14-16
Thread; Primrose pulled through brown cobblers wax.
Body; Primrose tying silk well waxed to produce a shade of olive
Rib; optional, fine gold wire or oval tinsel
Hackle; Greenwell hen throat hackle or coch-y-bondhu long in fibre, one and a half to two turns.

One variation which improves the imitation when duns are hatching is to semi palmer the hackle to give it a better impression of a living insect.

Another variant known as the Woodcock Greenwells uses a woodcock wing tied sparse.

Greenwells Glory Nymph

Another one evolving from the winged wet greenwells glory, this has been adapted represent the same iron blue and olive nymphs. However, in contrast to the usual more beefy nymphs, this one is very light representing the fact that most natural nymphs are small and slim thus making this a good imitation of them.

The Lack of build and weight in this instance serves a different problem in that it is too light to sink very far, especially if in a strong current, so reliance has to be set upon its life like appearance.

Hook Size; 12-18
Thread; Primrose pulled through brown cobblers wax.
Tail; Greenwell cock hackle fibres)
Body; Primrose tying silk well waxed to produce a shade of olive
Rib; optional, fine gold wire
Thorax; Grey or Blue grey fur dubbing
Wingcase; Grouse hackle fibres with the ends turned down as legs

Greenwells Nymph

Kites Imperial

Kites Imperial and Heron Herl Plume Tip

Kites Imperial

An imitation of both the Large and Small dark olive (Baetis rhodani and B. scambus) , Medium olive (B. vernus), Small spurwing (Centroptilum luteolum), Olive uprights (Rhithrogena semicolorata), and even Yellow evening dun (Ephemerella notata). If olives are on the water give it a try.

Kite frequently dressed his Imperials on down-eyed hooks, being of the opinion that '...it mattered but little to the trout'. (Famous Flies and their Originators page 173.)

Hook Size; 14-16
Thread; Purple
Tail; greyish brown early in the season, later, june onwards, honey cock hackle fibres
Body; Heron primary herl, doubled and redoubled (Netheravon style)to form a thorax
Rib; fine gold wire
Hackle; honey dun cock

Major Oliver Kite as well as being a friend and great publicist for Frank Sawyers nymph techniques he managed to leave his mark with an exceptionally effective dry fly pattern on any river. Very likely based on an earlier welsh pattern, and is similar to Usk Nailer, but whatever the parentage and amendments by Oliver Kite, it resulted in an excellant pattern on any river with a nation wide following as a result of Kite's regular column in the Shooting Times.

Kite was not only a competent angler and writer, he was also an astute observer and naturalist, especially of trout behaviour and aquatic insect life, and it was from these observations that many of his fly patterns were developed. Sawyer was for many years Kite's friend, colleague and neighbour in the village of Netheravon until their friendship sadly ended.

He was born on 27 November 1920 in Castleton, Monmouthshire, and his family later moved to Lancashire. He joined the army (Royal Engineers) in 1941 and served as an officer in India, Burma, Malaya and Singapore. He suffered a heart attack at the age of 35, and settled in Wiltshire in 1958, living in Owl Cottage in the village of Netheravon in Wiltshire right on the banks of the River Avon. and retired from the army in 1965. He had suffered from angina for many years, the illness starting while on overseas duty. Oliver Kite died of a second heart attack on the banks of the River Test in 1968, at the early age of 48.

Oliver Kite gained a wide affection and audience among television viewers in the 1960s as the presenter of "Kite's Country" on Southern TV, gently displaying his skills as a fly fisherman and his keen naturalist's eye for the wildlife of Wiltshire and Hampshire, each weekly episode being narrated in his lilting Welsh accent with considerable charm and expert knowledge. Known for his simple fishing style, extraordinarily keen vision and his invention of several enduringly successful fly patterns, including Kite's Imperial.

Oliver Kite popularised to a wide audience the Netheravon style of nymph fishing invented by Frank Sawyer, the Avon riverkeeper and author, to whom he gave full credit in his book "Nymph Fishing in Practice", first published in 1963. Many of Kite's dry flies incorporate a thorax tied in the 'Netheravon manner' (to quote Kite), where the body material is 'double and redoubled' to form a thorax just behind the hackle. However, in so far as the Imperial is concerned there has been contention as to exactly how it was tied, especially in respect to the thorax.

He went on to co-host a program with Jack Hargreaves also on Southern Television called "Country Boy" the idea being to teach a young boy from the city the ways of country life and each week this young person would be introduced to another new experience living in the country such as fishing. Oliver Kite died of a second heart attack whilst on a fishing trip on the banks of the River Test in 1968, at the early age of 48.

Tying instruction video by Davie McPhail below and a slightly different one by CharlyFarly2