Pheasant tail fibres, dyed olive or natural Olive pheasant tail fibers (Tail, shell back and legs)
Ultra wire Copper brown wire (One length)
Flashabou Pearl flashabou (1 strand)
Scud back Brown thin skin mottled (Wing case (pheasant tail also works))
Ice Dub Pheasant tail or rusty brown (Thorax)
Ice Dub Shrimp pink (Hot spot in the thorax)
Permanent marker Hot colour permanent marker (Head highlight)
How to tie it
Start tan UTC 70 back from the eye on a size 16 curved nymph hook to gauge your body length. Tie the pheasant tail in at the rear with the tail about a body length, then tuck the butts aside.
Tie in copper brown wire and build a smooth, slightly tapered thread body, flattening the thread first. The thread is the underside of the fly, so it wants to be clean.
Pull the pheasant tail straight over the top as a shell back and capture it, then rib the wire forward. Wait until you are pulling downward before you put tension on, and the pheasant tail will not spin around the shank on you. Light body, dark back is the point: look closely at real mayflies here and they are much darker on top than underneath.
Tie one strand of pearl Flashabou centred on top, then a strip of brown scud back over it for the wing case, checking you have gone back far enough that no bare thread shows.
Dub about half the thorax with pheasant tail Ice Dub, then work in some shrimp pink Ice Dub. That pink band is a hot spot built from dubbing rather than thread, which is a neater way to do it.
Add four or five pheasant tail fibres per side on loose wraps, pull them to length, then lock them down. Do not worry if they stick up. Pulling the scud back over pushes them into place.
Finish the thorax with a little more dubbing, pull the scud back over, then the Flashabou over that, trim carefully (it will suck back through if you pull too hard), and either switch to hot orange thread for a hot head or just colour it with a Sharpie.