The Tying Bench - PM Stone (PT Nymph Variant)
My buddy Dan who is an Alaska State Wildlife Trooper is the one that showed me this pattern, but only after I threatened to push him in the river. He was demolishing pink salmon at the Baptism on this fly one afternoon while I, inept and ham-fisted as I am, was resigned to playing tiddly-winks for lack of better things to do. (I certainly wasn't catching fish...)
Since then I've caught quite a bit of everything on this pattern from inland trout, to steelhead & salmon. The only adjustment needed is to size the hook/fly appropriately to species. This is a killer skinny-water fly on steelhead and where legal, makes an absolutely deadly dropper.
Pattern illustrated tied on a #10 TMC 2457 with 0.025 lead wire under the thorax & no bead.
Hook: TMC 2457
Thread: Black 70-140 Denier based on fly sizing
Bead: Gold or Copper optional
Weight: 6-8 turns of 0.010-0.030 wire (optional & to size)
Tail: 8-10 Rooster Pheasant barbs from the bottom 1/2 of the tail
Abdomen: 2-4 long Peacock Herl barbs
Rib: Copper Wire to size
Thorax: 2-4 long Peacock Herl barbs
Shellback/Wing Pad: 8-10 Rooster Pheasant barbs
Gills: 8-10 Rooster Pheasant barbs split
Here's the deal, if you use quality Peacock Herl and Pheasant tail, you can tie this fly with just the 8 Pheasant Tail Barbs, and 2-4 Peacock Herl. The trick is to get the longest barbs you can find which usually means the bottom 1/3rd of a jumbo tail feather. Soaking the herl for a bit helps to make them less brittle as well for better tying.
First slip on the bead (optional). Copper seems to fish better than gold with this pattern. Now wind a thread underbody from bead to tail. A tail-bump isn't critical but it helps.
Tie in the pheasant barbs using appropropriate proportioning but do not cut them; then tie in the wire. Using speaker wire or christmas light wire stripped out of defunct light sets is the greatest thing since sliced bread on smaller flies.
Stroke the butt-ends of the pheasant barbs back over the tail and put a wrap or 2 over the bend to hold them down & out of the way. Now tie in the peacock, tips first, and wind the thread forward to the thorax area.
Note: If you are going to weight the fly with lead wire (optional), it doesn't matter when you tie it in; before the tail or after the peacock. All you need to do is make 5-7 wraps in the thorax area just behind the bead and secure it. Wrap the peacock forward to the thorax and tie off with 1-2 wraps, but DON'T cut it. Try not to twist the herl as you wrap it, it flares better if you don't. If you don't use weighting wire, use floss or some other material such as micro-chenille in black to give the thorax a nice, fat profile.
Next pull the pheasant tail barb butts up over the top of the peacock to make a shellback along the top of the abdomen, and tie off with 1-2 wraps at the back of the thorax area. Now bind the whole mess together by palmering the wire rib forward in the opposite direction you wrapped the peacock herl. This make for a very durable, clean looking fly. At this point you should again stroke the pheasant barbs back and put a wrap or 2 over the top to hold them out of the way.
Take the remaining tag ends of the peacock, & wrap them to form an abdomen & tie off.
Now pull the tag-end pheasant tail barbs up and over the peacock thorax to make a wing pad and tie off just behind the bead. Split the barbs into 2 groups (i.e. 4 barbs on each side) and pull each group down along the sides of the fly, holding it from below with your fingers. Put a couple wraps over the top to secure them. Whip-finish.
Again, quality PT barbs from the lower half of the tail will allow you to tie the entire fly with the same 8 barbs you used for the tail. If you want a fancier looking finished fly, use the pointy ends from a new set of 8 barbs instead for the gills.
Clip the remaining PT tags off about equal to the rear of the thorax to represent the gills.
I know this sounds like a huge pain to tie, but it really is a pretty simple pattern once you get the mechanics and order down.
Regards,
NMF
Since then I've caught quite a bit of everything on this pattern from inland trout, to steelhead & salmon. The only adjustment needed is to size the hook/fly appropriately to species. This is a killer skinny-water fly on steelhead and where legal, makes an absolutely deadly dropper.
Pattern illustrated tied on a #10 TMC 2457 with 0.025 lead wire under the thorax & no bead.
Hook: TMC 2457
Thread: Black 70-140 Denier based on fly sizing
Bead: Gold or Copper optional
Weight: 6-8 turns of 0.010-0.030 wire (optional & to size)
Tail: 8-10 Rooster Pheasant barbs from the bottom 1/2 of the tail
Abdomen: 2-4 long Peacock Herl barbs
Rib: Copper Wire to size
Thorax: 2-4 long Peacock Herl barbs
Shellback/Wing Pad: 8-10 Rooster Pheasant barbs
Gills: 8-10 Rooster Pheasant barbs split
Here's the deal, if you use quality Peacock Herl and Pheasant tail, you can tie this fly with just the 8 Pheasant Tail Barbs, and 2-4 Peacock Herl. The trick is to get the longest barbs you can find which usually means the bottom 1/3rd of a jumbo tail feather. Soaking the herl for a bit helps to make them less brittle as well for better tying.
First slip on the bead (optional). Copper seems to fish better than gold with this pattern. Now wind a thread underbody from bead to tail. A tail-bump isn't critical but it helps.
Tie in the pheasant barbs using appropropriate proportioning but do not cut them; then tie in the wire. Using speaker wire or christmas light wire stripped out of defunct light sets is the greatest thing since sliced bread on smaller flies.
Stroke the butt-ends of the pheasant barbs back over the tail and put a wrap or 2 over the bend to hold them down & out of the way. Now tie in the peacock, tips first, and wind the thread forward to the thorax area.
Note: If you are going to weight the fly with lead wire (optional), it doesn't matter when you tie it in; before the tail or after the peacock. All you need to do is make 5-7 wraps in the thorax area just behind the bead and secure it. Wrap the peacock forward to the thorax and tie off with 1-2 wraps, but DON'T cut it. Try not to twist the herl as you wrap it, it flares better if you don't. If you don't use weighting wire, use floss or some other material such as micro-chenille in black to give the thorax a nice, fat profile.
Next pull the pheasant tail barb butts up over the top of the peacock to make a shellback along the top of the abdomen, and tie off with 1-2 wraps at the back of the thorax area. Now bind the whole mess together by palmering the wire rib forward in the opposite direction you wrapped the peacock herl. This make for a very durable, clean looking fly. At this point you should again stroke the pheasant barbs back and put a wrap or 2 over the top to hold them out of the way.
Take the remaining tag ends of the peacock, & wrap them to form an abdomen & tie off.
Now pull the tag-end pheasant tail barbs up and over the peacock thorax to make a wing pad and tie off just behind the bead. Split the barbs into 2 groups (i.e. 4 barbs on each side) and pull each group down along the sides of the fly, holding it from below with your fingers. Put a couple wraps over the top to secure them. Whip-finish.
Again, quality PT barbs from the lower half of the tail will allow you to tie the entire fly with the same 8 barbs you used for the tail. If you want a fancier looking finished fly, use the pointy ends from a new set of 8 barbs instead for the gills.
Clip the remaining PT tags off about equal to the rear of the thorax to represent the gills.
I know this sounds like a huge pain to tie, but it really is a pretty simple pattern once you get the mechanics and order down.
Regards,
NMF
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