I love tying with pheasant. My favorite pheasant pattern is Jack Gartside’s Sparrow Nymph. Three pheasant feathers are used. The dark brown pheasant marabou that is found between the legs of the male ringneck is the tail. The bluish-green back feather (mentioned above) tied in soft hackle style as a collar. One aftershaft feather (the small dun colored wispy feather found attached to the underside of the back feather previously used) is tied in as a head in front of the hackle collar.
The only part of the fly that isn’t pheasant is the body that is a mix of bunny and gray squirrel fur dubbing. I like to tie the body split thread style because it really defines the spikeyness of the squirrel fur.
This is a great pattern for catching many different species of fish (trout, salmon, smallmouth, panfish, carp). When you have one tied to your tippet and you pull it out of the water it looks like a small stick hanging on the end of your leader. When you dunk it back into the current these materials just come alive with action. The contrast of the materials and the movement of the materials in the current make this an absolutely deadly and effective pattern.
