Pheasant Tail Nymph Attractor. Photo By: Louis Cahill
A while back I posted about a attractor midge pattern that always works well for me during the colder months.
I received some really good feedback from the post from G&G followers. One follower even tied some up and landed multiple twenty inch fish with the midge pattern one day on his home waters. It feels good passing on information to our followers, especially when I hear back that they not only appreciate the advice but are actually putting it to work on the water. Since the first post was a success I’ve decided to showcase second cold water nymph pattern of mine.
I’m a firm believer in utilizing a bright attractor nymph in my tandem nymph rigs during the winter months. A couple years back I thought to myself why not take a proven traditional fly patterns and modify them with bright attractor fly tying materials. This way you can bank on both the proven profile characteristics and the flashy appeal. One of the first fly patterns I came up with for this idea was this pheasant tail attractor nymph above. It’s been very successful for me on the water. I generally use it as a dropper in my tandem nymph rig in size 16-20. Try a traditional bead head pheasant tail nymph in a 14-16 with my attractor pheasant tail nymph in a 18-20. It’s a deadly combination for me during the winter months.
Try experimenting with modifying other proven traditional nymph patterns into attractor nymphs. I’m a strong believer however in always using one natural (non-attractor) style nymph and one attractor nymph in my tandem rigs. This seems to work the best for me on the water.
Pheasant Tail Attractor Nymph
Nymph Hook: 14-20 Tail: Natural Pheasant Tail Ribbing: Ultra Wire Small – Blue Abdomen: Flashabou Dubbing – Light Blue Shellback: 6-8 strands of Flashabou – Pearl Thorax/Collar: Natural Pheasant Tail Thread: 6/0 Brown Uni-Thread Head: 5/64 to 3/32 Nickel Bead Keep it Reel, Kent Klewein Gink & Gasoline www.ginkandgasoline.com hookups@ginkandgasoline.com Sign Up For Our Weekly Newsletter!
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Where can I buy a couple? I’m a worthless trout bum, to much 9-5 to tie.
Eric,
Any good flyshop should have something comparable.
Kent
A 20″ Wyoming rainbow trout agreed with your fly pattern today.
I owe you a beer.
Now that’s what it’s all about!
Dean,
I’m really happy you gave it a try amd congrats on your big trout. Thanks for taking the time to give us feedback. I hope others will try the pattern now.
Keep it Reel,
Kent Klewein
Back in the 80’s, when Jim Teeny (of Teeny Nymph fame) came out with bleached/dyed pheasant tail feathers for tyers, I tied up all kinds of colors and combos into mayfly and midge nymph patterns. Chartreuse became a favorite color in a PT Nymph but blue, purple, cream, red and claret also worked quite well. Blue isn’t used much for trout for some reason but it works quite well for me in some of the lake leech and streamer patterns I use.
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Would you be willing to drop a link to the attractor midge article in the comments here? I am very interested in it!!
Devin, That is not a commercially available pattern. You can tie your own from the recipe in the article.
Thanks!
Mr. Cahill,
Thank you so much for the response! What about the midge that you referenced in the opening of this article?
Thanks again!