Pattern Database

Lance Egan's competition-born Frenchie is a Pheasant Tail nymph with a hot spot thorax. The pink (or hot orange) dubbing creates a trigger point that consistently outperforms the unmodified original.

The Perdigon (Spanish for "pellet") is a euro-nymph built for speed and depth. Its smooth thread body coated in UV resin cuts through current like a stone, reaching fish before they can drift away. Available in olive, black, red, and purple — each targeting different feeding moods.

The Pheasant Tail was developed by English riverkeeper Frank Sawyer in the mid-20th century for the chalk streams of the River Avon. Sawyer's original used only pheasant tail fibers and fine copper wire — no thread at all — to imitate the baetis nymphs his trout were feeding on. The American version, often credited to Al Troth, added a peacock herl thorax and a defined wing case and legs. That's the dressing most tiers know today, and it's the one we're tying here.

Walt Young's impossibly simple nymph — just a curved hook and rough hare's ear dubbing. The shaggy, segmented appearance imitates sowbugs, caddis larvae, or whatever the fish imagine it to be.