Pheasant Tail & Partridge Soft Hackle

Pheasant Tail & Partridge Soft Hackle

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Tying Instructions

1. Attach a hook to the vise. I am using a size 14, TMC 3769 Wet Fly hook. Wrap a small copper wire behind the eye of the hook crossing over the tag end to lock the wire to the shank.

2. Wrap the wire creating a thorax bulge just in front of the midpoint of the shank.

3. Wrap a smooth abdomen behind the thorax to the bend of the hook.

4. Clip about 4 fibers from a Pheasant Tail. Separate the fibers and even the tips. Attach the fiber tips to the bend of the hook creating a tail that is about the length of the shank. Two tight wraps will hold the fibers in place.

5. Secure the tag ends of the tailing fibers with wire wraps and trim off the tag behind the thorax.

6. Attach a 6 fiber segment of Pheasant Tail behind the thorax and secure the fibers with wire wraps to the tail tie-in position.

7. Wrap the fibers around the wire creating a rope.

8. Wrap the fibers with the copper wire core evenly up the abdomen and over the thorax areas. Secure the butt ends in front of the thorax with wire wraps.

9.Select a Partridge feather in which the fibers are about twice the hook gap. Massage the fibers back from the quill leaving a tip of smaller fibers that will not be used. The space between the tip and the extended fibers on the Partridge feather is where we secure the feather to the shank.

10. The feather has a concave side in which the fibers naturally sweep back. Attach the Partridge feather in front of the thorax with the fibers sweeping back toward the tail. A couple of wraps will secure the feather and you can trim off the tip.

11. Wrap the Partridge feather forward with about two to three wraps of the hackle. Secure the tag end of the quill behind the eye of the hook with a couple of wraps. Do not overlap the hackle wraps, you want these fibers to be free for movement.

12. Wrap a small head with the wire.

13. Apply a couple of half hitches or a Whip Finish.

14. This is the finished pattern.

 

 

Materials to Order Material, click the link
Hook	TMC 3769 #12-18
Thread	Small Copper Wire
Body	4-5 fibers Pheasant Tail
Tail	2-3 fibers Pheasant Tail
Hackle	Gray Hungarian Partridge

Pheasant Tail & Partridge Soft Hackle

The Pheasant Tail & Partridge Soft Hackle probably has it’s roots during the time of Dame Juliana Berners in 1496 when she wrote a treatise describing the only fly pattern used within England at that time, a wet fly. Nymph patterns came about in the mid 1800’s in England and Frank Sawyer, the riverkeeper of the Avon river in southern England, has been attributed as the developer of the the modern Pheasant Tail Nymph (PTN) in the early 1900’s.

George Skues

Some years before Frank Sawyer tied up his PTN, another English flyfisherman, George Skues, was already tying a version of the Pheasant Tail Soft Hackle. These English patterns utilized Pheasant Tail for both the thorax and the body. The Soft Hackles fell out of favor with the writings of F.M. Halford in the 1880’s proclaiming the superior performance of dry flies by matching the hatching insects on the water with a fly of similar color and size.

Soft Hackle Reemergence

As a result, many of the chalkstreams of England became “dry fly only” and you could only fish to a rising trout. The preference for dry flies continued into the United States with the writings of Theodore Gordon in 1890, who was known as “The Halford of the USA”. Gordon received a number of dry flies from Halford and created his own that were suited to our streams, the Gordon and the Quill Gordon. It wasn’t until the 1970’s that the Soft Hackles, as touted by Sylvester Nemes, became an important pattern for many of today’s fly fishermen. Today, the Soft Hackle is recognized as an excellent fly pattern, particularly within riffles and runs of less than 4 feet in depth. It is primarily used with a downstream cast utilizing the currents for movement.

Hungarian Partridge

The Pheasant Tail Soft Hackle can be tied with or without a tail. With the tail, the pattern represents Baetis in the smaller sizes or small stoneflies in the larger sizes. With or without the tail, the beautiful fibers of the Hungarian Partridge in the front makes a good representation of an emerging Caddis. Other trigger factors are the flash of the copper wire, and the undulating effect of the Partridge fibers.

Presentation

The pattern can be fished on tailwater and freestone rivers. Often, it is fished in the late spring and summer when the mayflies are most active, tied in sizes #12-18 in order to imitate all types of mayflies. The Pheasant Tail Soft Hackle is a great fly when the mayflies are emerging or actively free floating in the current.  When a mayfly nymph is in the current, it spreads it’s legs out wide and floats helplessly.  This is where the soft hackle on the Pheasant Tail comes into play.  When the pheasant tail is wrapped around the hook, the fibers stand up, thus giving it the appearance of having the gills on the body.

One Fly

A variation of this pattern is the one fly preferred by Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia. Yvon has caught both trout and warmwater species with this pattern. He has even caught Bonefish with a larger variation. It is his primary pattern used with his Tenkara rod. “If I was to use only one fly for trout fishing for the rest of my life, it would be a ‘partridge and pheasant-tail’ soft hackle,” said Mr. Chouinard, specifying a size 14. “It’s an all-purpose fly,” he said. “You could probably go out with this one fly and out fish anybody.”

Pheasant Tail Soft Hackle

Hook	Tiemco 5262 #12-18
Thread	Uni-thread Dark Brown 8/0
Body	5-6 Pheasant Tail Fibers
Thorax	Peacock Herl
Tail	3 Pheasant Tail Fibers
Ribbing	Small Copper Wire
Hackle	Gray Hungarian Partridge

BH Pheasant Tail Soft Hackle

Hook	Tiemco 5262 #12-18
Thread	Uni-thread Dark Brown 8/0
Bead	Gold Brass
Body	5-6 Pheasant Tail Fibers
Thorax	Peacock Herl
Tail	5-6 Pheasant Tail Fibers
Ribbing	Small Copper Wire
Hackle	Gray Hungarian Partridge

Yvon’s Soft Hackle Pheasant Tail

Hook	Daiichi 1530 #12-20
Thread	Uni-thread Black 8/0
Body	5-6 Pheasant Tail Fibers
Thorax	Peacock Ice Dubbing
Tail	5-6 Pheasant Tail Fibers
Ribbing	Small Copper Wire
Hackle	Gray Hungarian Partridge