I am very new to fly tying, and I figured I would start out tying some nymphs that work well on my home water, the Gunpowder, in Maryland…pheasant tails and hares ear. I got a video with my kit and the guy tied in some lead wire. I was a little surprised, but not sure if it was common. I looked on youtube and found a good video, and he didn’t use lead. What do most of you do? No weight, some with weight some without?
Some with and some without. You can also use lead-free wire. Heavier flies sink faster and go deeper, especially on fast current. Slimmer and lighter flies land more gently on the surface and make less of a disturbance upon striking the water. (plop vs PLOP!)
Ed
I don’t weight any small nymphs. Use a bead if you like. I usually fish these behind something weighted, like a copper john, etc. Or, add a split shot.
The weight that you add depends on the depth and velocity of the water. A nymph must work close to the bottom, where the real nymphs are.
For emerger situations go -better- for a wet or softhackle.
The conclusion is obvious.
Good luck.
You’ll develop your own preference in time, based on the way the weighted ones fish vs. the unweighted, as well as the flies’ appearance (some feel the lead wraps add too much bulk).
Myself, I figure that when I’m fishing nymphs, I add shot to the line most of the time, so why not cut down on the amount of shot I need and just tie it into the fly? Therefore, the vast majority of my nymphs incorporate lead and/or beads.
On size 14 pt’s I will wrap about three turns of .15 non lead wire and tuck it under the bead. A lot of beads have two dirrerent sized holes. One faces the eye of the hook and the bigger side faces the rear of the fly. It adds a little weight and fills in the open space around the bead. Personally I wouldn’t want to wrap anymore than just a couple of wraps for fear that the fly would be too bulky
If you do use wire, please use lead-free like this stuff here. We don’t need any more lead in the fisheries. And if I recall correctly, the UK has already banned lead wire and more and more jurisdictions are following suit. It’s just a matter of time before everyone’s lead spools are useless.
BelAirSteve; If you are goingto use Lead Or Non Lead wire to weight your Nymphs. Make sure you don’t put too much weight in the Gape area. Double up in the Thorax region if you must add more weight. Doing so in the Gape area closes the Gape and lessens the chance of a good hook up. Have Fun. Jax
If you decide to weight some and not others, or use differing amounts of weight, try tying with different colors of thread for each. ( Like tye unweighted with black thread, light weighted with yellow and heavy with red.) Makes it easier to tell them apart on the river.
One of the advantages of a PT in the first place is a slim profile. You don’t want to add enough lead to ruin that profile.
The original PT got around that by using copper wire instead of tying thread, doubling the thickness at the thorax. That’s still an option.
Adding a bead head (not necessarily a bright one) is another option. If you do go this route, you can add a few wraps of lead immediately behind the bead and then push it up into the hole in the bead. This not only adds weight but helps keep the bead in place.
If you don’t want to add a bead head, and want to weight the fly, just keep the weight in the thorax area, as was pointed out above.
Or tie without weight and use shot on the leader.
It comes down to personal taste, but keeping a slim abdomen is key here.
Hi BelAirSteve,
I use lead wire, lead free wire, and bead heads. The lead free wire is required for nymphs in Yellowstone, and probably other places as well. The vast majority of the places I fish, lead wire is legal.
That said, for small nymphs lead wire is tough. It is difficult to get much wire on small hooks without making the fly hard to tie, getting it to far back and interfering with the gape, and making the fly bulky. The small amount of lead wire on a small nymph does not affect the sink rate of the nymph greatly. Wrapping wire on a hook is also more time consuming than putting on a bead.
For those reasons, I have gone primairly to bead heads for nymphs, especially for smaller ones. The larger nymphs, #12 or #10 and larger are more of a question, and I go with either wire or beads. For really large nymphs, like big stones, etc., I go with wire virtually exclusively. With the big nymphs you can get enough wire on the hook to really sink it without interfering with the gape. It is also less obtrusive than is a bead.
To comment on one of your other questions: yes, the use of lead wire is very common.
Secondly, I tie most nymphs both ways. It is useful to have weighted nymphs for some fishing, and in other cases it is nice to have the same nymph unweighted.
Regards,
Gandolf
Thanks for all of the good information. Now a follow up after watching a couple more videos and did some more reading.
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Do you wrap the copper wire in the opposite direction of the pheasant tail in the body? Do you think it matters?
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What do you think of using peacock ice dub instead of herls for the thorax?
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Do you tie the legs in separately, or do you use the same fibers from the wing case to make the legs?
Personally, I counter wrap the copper, I think it helps protect the feather fibers.
Ice dub may work fine , but I like the real thing with peacock. It’s magical.
For legs, I use fibers from the wing case, or , occationally, skip them altogether.
- heres a 2 page discussion on ribbing
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/showthread.php?t=31422
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go for it. give it a try.
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i use the tip ends of the wing case for the legs or i omit them entirely.
When i tie pheasant tails, i twist the copper wire for the abdomen with the pheasant fibers. This adds strength when wrapping the pheasant, and ensures the fly wont get ripped up. Also, i have always used lead wire when i have it. putting 3-5 wraps (depending on the size of the hook) at the front of the fly where the thorax goes bulks up the thorax and adds plenty of weight. if thats not enough, i add a bead for the thorax instead of wrapping it with peacock.
just my 3 cents.
Jordan
Hi BelAirSteve,
The ice dub will be different from the peacock. Peacock hearl is kind of a metallic copper color in the water, it is no longer green. Like 51BC, I think peacock has super fish drawing properties.
I do not wrap the thorax of peacock hearl on the pheasant tail with wire at all, only the abdomen, which I do counter wrap. The pheasant tail fibers are fairly fragile and are easily cut by trout teeth. The counter wrapping of the wire minimizes the extent to which the fly comes apart. It won’t last for ever, but will last longer if counter wrapped.
To strenghten the thorax, I twist the tying thread, kind of like a dubbing loop, with the needed strands of peacock, this will make the thorax last pretty well.
I have used the excess fibers from the wingcase for legs, have tied them in separately, and have tied them as soft hackles. When I tie in legs now, they are usually soft hackles. Interestingly enough, the original pattern did not have legs at all, because swimmer mayfly nymphs, which the pheasant tail represents, swim with their legs tucked tightly against the body.
Regards,
Gandolf
I buy a roll of thin solder & use that fer weighting flies when i need to… Easy to work with… It can also be flattened easily on the hook with a small pliers after its bound down with a little thread to give the fly a flat and more realistic profile…
There is a great video on Youtube of Davie McPhail tying a wonderful pheasant tail in HD. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORK-eDbWQbk