Emerger · Nymph · Trout · Intermediate · 1 version
Tyer Recipe
Hook Curved shank 3XL (or dry fly, wet fly, long or short shank. The recipe is deliberately open), 12 (8-14, any style)
Thread Olive (any colour) 70 denier
Materials
Pheasant tail fibres Natural pheasant tail fibers (4-5 for the tail, plus a bunch for the body)
Mottled soft hackle fibres (duck or partridge) Light mottled soft hackle fibres (10-12 for the throat)
Crystal flash Pearl, thin (2 strands)
Fluffy base fibres from a hackle feather Any hackle (One small pinch for the wing)
How to tie it
Lay a base of thread the full length of the shank, back to the bend.
Tie in four or five pheasant tail fibres at the bend as a tail, a little longer than a hook gap. Not a tiny tail. Check the position with two wraps before locking it down with a wrap right on top.
Bring the thread all the way forward, then wrap the pheasant tail fibres up the shank as a body, either twisted together or left lying parallel to each other. Tie off just behind the eye and take a couple of extra wraps to lock it.
Tie a bunch of 10 or 12 mottled duck or partridge fibres in underneath as a throat, reaching to about the hook point (a little past is fine). Trim the excess.
Tie in two strands of thin crystal flash on top, trimmed to the length of the wing to come. Two only. This material will overpower the fly if you use six.
Strip a small pinch of the fluffy fibres from the base of any hackle feather, in any colour, and tie it in on top as a wing, no longer than the body.
Take the thread right back to the eye and compress the soft wing down. It packs well, then build a decent nymph head.