Nymph
Nymph
Flashback Pheasant Tail
The Pheasant Tail with a mirrored wingcase — the same fly, easier for a trout to find.
$18.99
$1.58 per fly
Available at Amazon
- Hook size
- 20
- Imitates
- Mayfly
- Best water
- Freestone River, Spring Creek, Tailwater
- Colour
- Brown
- Pack
- 12 flies
How to fish it
Fishing notes
Upper dropper above a heavier anchor. Fish it through the pre-hatch window and let the drift swing up at the end of the run — the rise imitates an emerging nymph and takes often come there.
About this fly
The Pheasant Tail with a mirrored wingcase — the same fly, easier for a trout to find.
A Pheasant Tail nymph is already one of the most reliable imitations of a small mayfly nymph. The flashback version adds a strip of mylar over the wingcase, which imitates the gas bubble under the shuck of a nymph about to emerge and, incidentally, makes the fly far easier for a fish to pick out in moving water.
It is the version to fish in faster or slightly stained water, and during the hour before a mayfly hatch when nymphs are active and rising in the column.
Key features
- Mylar wingcase imitates the gas bubble of an emerging mayfly nymph
- Easier for trout to locate than a plain Pheasant Tail in fast or stained water
- Size 20 matches baetis and small mayfly nymphs on tailwaters
- At its best in the hour before a mayfly hatch, when nymphs get active
- Natural pheasant fibre body keeps the silhouette honest
Further reading
- Fishing the Blue-Winged Olive Hatch 5 min read
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