Tying the "Original" Pheasant Tail

This is pretty cool.  Frank Sawyer, the English gentleman who was the originator of the famous Pheasant Tail Nymph is shown tying one in this old "film".  You can make up your own voice over and appropriate accompanying music if you need it.  Enjoy!

IT'S HOPPER TIME!

John and Lee McGarity joined me for a day of fly fishing on Noontootla Creek Farms today. As we made our way into the first pool of the day, John spotted a fish rising. We watched closely to try to see what she might be eating and the only bugs we saw were little yellow sallies. John pulled out a stimulator and made his way below the fish and a few drifts later the trout rose crunched the fly and after a brief tussle spit the fly and was gone. Lee was tossing a nymph rig to start with and got a couple of strikes but no hook-ups. Then a few minutes later someone flipped the switch and they caught fish or hooked up in pretty much each piece of holding water for the rest of the morning. Lee scored big time with a 23inch pig that took us downstream on a scalding run that would have gotten Norman McClean's attention. A big olive bugger was on the breakfast menu and the fish loved it. After lunch with the increasing temperature and the number of hoppers bouncing around in the grass, we shed the waders and strapped on a couple of terrestrials with a nymph dropper. We were not dissapointed. Lee and John were right at home tossing big dries and made some incredible casts resulting in some beautiful bows' coming to net including this 22 incher which was the last cast of the day. It's Hopper Time on the farm! Come and get em'!

Discount Flies Online - A Good Deal?

The folks over at Midcurrent just published a great article discussing discount flies sold online vs. quality flies sold at your local fly shop. They've made the argument for quality vs. price much better than we could: give Phil Monahan's "Ask The Expert" column a read and think about it the next time you need flies. We sell only quality flies at Unicoi Outfitters, from such sources as Umpqua, Rainey, Orvis, and select local tiers, including some of our own guides.

The Lowly Pheasant Tail Nymph

So, just how important is the lowly pheasant tail nymph to trout fishing? Well, if the flyboxes of the Unicoi guides are any indication, they would prefer not to leave home without them. Unquestionably, these tiny flies produce more strikes from trout than possibly all other flies combined. You've heard the age-old question of "Which fly would you choose if you could only have one?" And a lot of times the choice is a woolly bugger because it is so versatile and can be used for trout, bass, bream and a host of other species. However, if your quarry is trout, may we suggest that the pheasant tail will consistently out-fish most any pattern you can think of. Sure, there are times when you know you need something bright and attractive or something riding on the surface to "match the hatch". But even in those times, your success ratio will improve if there's a little pheasant tail dragging along behind and below those other flies. You can get fancy and tie in all the "legs" or you can wrap a nice soft hackle around the collar, but just as often all you need is the old Frank Sawyer pattern.