Sit the 3.0mm gold brass bead in your palm with the small end up and thread the long-shank nymph hook through it, then secure the hook in the vise.
Add a few wraps of .015 lead wire and push them up into the bead to stabilize it. Start the brown thread just behind the lead, wrap up onto the lead and back down a few times to lock it in place, then run the thread down to the start of the bend.
Bind in the small gold UTC wire on the near side of the hook with its tip extending to just shy of the lead wraps. Tying it in this way builds an even taper and keeps the wire out of the way of the tail.
Select half a dozen pheasant tail fibers from the stiff side of the feather, stroke the tips into alignment and strip them off together. Measure a tail about half a shank length, take two loose wraps, and adjust by drawing the fibers rearward if it comes out long. Add one wrap under the tail and one tight wrap over it, then pull the remaining fibers rearward and wrap in front of them, and out to the far side and wrap again so they angle that way.
Tie in a length of medium Pearl Flat Tinsel on top of the hook with one wrap right in front of the tail, and leave the thread just in front of the hook point.
Wrap the pheasant tail fibers forward in touching wraps, keeping them together with a finger on each wrap. Cover at least two-thirds of the shank — as the thread compresses the fibers the abdomen thickens into a taper. Capture with a few tight wraps and trim the waste.
Pull the flash forward over the top of the abdomen and tie it down tight, then counter-wrap the wire forward in even turns, opposite the direction the pheasant tail was wrapped, for durability. Capture the wire by reversing your thread direction and then reversing back, then helicopter it off.
Pull the flash rearward and tie it down to about the one-third mark back from the bead.
Align the tips of another bunch of pheasant tail fibers, strip them off, measure a little over a third of the shank, and tie them in so the tips extend forward past the bead. Bind the butts back to the one-third mark.
Thorax: snip the delicate tip off a single peacock herl and tie it in with its longer side facing you for a bushier thorax, starting at the one-third mark. Make touching wraps up to the bead, capture with tight wraps and break the herl off clean.
Push the forward pheasant tips back with your thumbnail, wiggling to split the fibers down the center, then pull the butt ends up and over the thorax so the tips split to each side as legs. Pull the tips down and take two tight wraps. Pull the flash up over the top and tie it down, then pull both up and take two wraps underneath before snipping close.
Whip finish, then paint a little Hard as Hull head cement over the thorax and the whip finish for security.