Some are supposed to be fat, and some are supposed to be skinny? What’s a person to do? I know Pheasant tails represent several varieties of mayfly, as do GRHEs. Should I tie some fat and some skinny? I read occasionally that this or that fly should be very slim.
I do tie my flies to include both. I let the fish be the judge & jury.
I do feel that many of “we” new tiers do tend to over material most flies.
Sometimes if the proportions are not correct, the fly does funny things when in the water. Is this good or bad, ask the fish.
If you are trying to tie a presentation fly (perfect representation) then I say try and stick to the original pattern. For my own pleasure of fishing, I tie several different colors and proportions (fat or skinny) and again, allow the fish to be the judge.
Denny
i would tie them in several ways, real skinny, skinny, medium and fat then see which ones work best for you in different places… here, a medium seems to get the best results…
It’s not so much that a pheasant tail should be skinny (although I’ve used those words before) as that pheasant tail is a wonderful material to use if you’re trying to make skinny nymphs.
Hare’s ear, OTOH, is a wonderful material to use if you’re trying to make fatter nymphs, as is peacock herl.
So, in general, if you’re playing to the strengths of the materials, a PT will be skinnier than a GRHE, or a Zug Bug.
I’m talking about absolute thickness here, not thickness in comparison to length. You’re not going to see a lot of size 20 Zug Bugs, but you will see a lot of size 20 PT’s. Those size 20 PTs may be somewhat plumper in comparison to their lengths than a size 14 PT would be.
So, yes, you can tie fatter PT’s, and they will catch fish, but you’re not full advantage of the best feature of the material.