Small Pheasant Tail Questions

[kyle1248]

I was cranking out a few small pheasant tails tonight in size 20. I was curious do you think it is necessary to add legs or a wingcase to pheasant tails in this size? It seems to me the smaller the fly gets the less necessary it is to add the legs and wingcase. I am going to crank out a bunch more in 20 and maybe 22 and I was just wondering if I should spend the time doing this. Thanks!

 

[BelAirSteve]

I always tie a wing case, but don't usually tie legs on smaller than 16. I tie a lot with soft hackles too.

 

[njk3395]

Anything under 14 gets a wingcase, but dont bother with legs.

 

[Lonewolve]

it really depends on the flytyer and also the smaller you go with pheasant tailed nymphs the easier for excessive buildup to occur,i also think its a matter of material usage and you dont want to use the same section of feather for legging as the body or wingcase when you go small or the head on your flie gets kinda fatter.
I always leg all my nymphs tosize #18,twenty ill use other means to make fly look like it has legs like a lil bit of picked out dubbing in pheasant tail color after #20 its kind of hard to leg probabaly can be done with a pair of Mag eyes and some rooster hackle fibers in same color as body ..never bothered here unless i had an order that a client/customer requested.
Tight Wraps & Tight Lines
Rick Wallace

 

[jayL]

It depends on whether I am using a bead or not.

BHPTs 14 and under, I don't bother with a wing case, and put a turn of partridge behind the bead. I used to carry this, as well as traditional BHPTs, but the soft hackle works better in every situation I've encountered.

For size 12 and larger BHPTs, I carry both the soft hackle and wing cased, legged PTs.

For non BH PTs, I add wing case to all sizes and usually stop adding legs for anything smaller than 18.

These rules were developed based on my findings in a statistically insignificant sampling, just as anyone else's. My advice is to see what works for you, and reduce the selection from there.

 

[MKern]

I do on all PT's that have a pheasant tail wing case.

If I use a flashback wingcase then I don't add legs. SometimesI skip them even on the larger sizes too with a BH FB PT.

However, I don't tie many nymphs below a size 18. If I do, say tie a size 22 nymph that's not a midge, I usually use 2x long hooks.

 

[midnightangler]

You can safely tie the fly without legs and the wingcase is optional. I really like the SLF squirrel dubbing for the thorax on pheasant tails in all sizes. The guard hairs in that blend are a great substitute for legs IMHO.

 

[808transplant]

I tie all PTs with a wingcase, regardless of size. When i tie 18-22 PTs i generally put a small hackle out of pheasant. Even on larger sizes i rarely worry about the legs.

 

[gaeronf]

Here's the deal with me. I just tie a normal PT without any "upper body" just pheasant tail and a bead when they are that small. I slayed, and I mean SLAYED with that little pattern off a stonefly. Tight Lines,

Gaeron

 

[WildTigerTrout]

I tie all my PT's with a wing case. I don't bother with the legs. I don't think they are needed.

 

[bam]

little guys don't get legs or wing case... just a small soft hackle from a hen neck or a little picked dubbing. I swear they fish better tied on emerger or scud hooks.

 

[kyle1248]

I've been tying a bunch of small pheasant tails on scud hooks from size 18-22. Some with beads and some without. I figured leaving them without legs was no biggie but I am having all kinds of problems having an effective wing case. It seems pointless to me but I just wanted to see others opinions. Thanks for everyones input.