Pheasant Tail Nymph

This Pheasant Tail Nymph pattern is and all season pattern. This Pheasant Tail Nymph imitates a broad range of trout foods and as such can be fished in all bodies of water in various manners. This pattern is credited to Frank Sawyer. With hundreds of mayfly species in North America whose nymphs are brown to dark brown in color this pattern is as general and effective as it gets.   In streams and rivers cast upstream and allow the nymph to dead drift. It can be very effective subsurface higher in the water table during a hatch, but allowing it to sink to near the bottom will almost always produce strikes and action. On lakes a slow subsurface retrieve with intermittent pausing is the most effective way to present this fly to imitate the natural swimming motion of the nymph.