Over the next 10 weeks each Monday I will be posting a fly with a step by step on how to tie it and a brief description on how and where I would fish it.

To get the ball rolling the first fly I have chosen is an Orange hot spot pheasant tail nymph. A fly that I use for both Trout and Grayling all year round. I love to fish this fly as part of a team of 2 flies when fishing a “euro nymph” set up. A brilliant method to use while river fishing when nothing much is happening on the surface and a method That is deadly whilst fishing for grayling In the colder months. Its a versatile pattern with many different variations weather that be a different colour bead or a different colour hot spot. its certainly a fly that produces the goods for anglers all over the world. and is definitely a fly you should have in your box!

this fly is super easy to tie and is a great pattern to tie if you’ve just taken up fly tying. the materials I’m using for this fly are as below

Hook – Fulling Mill Jig Force Hook #16

Thread – Semperfli Waxed Thread Black 12/0

Bead – 3.0mm slotted tungsten, copper

Tail – Coq De Leon

Hot spot – Glo-Brite Number 5

Body – Pheasant Tail Fibres

Rib – Semperfli Flat Mirage Tinsel

Thorax – Squirrel Dubbing Natural

Step 1 – Place the bead on the hook and fix the hook in your vice.

Step 2 – start your thread behind the bead and make wraps to secure the bead in place so it doesn’t move, once it’s in place start taking your thread down the shank of the hook toward the bend.

Step 3 – taking your thread towards the bend of the hook it’s time to tie in the tail. I like to take 5/6 Coq De Leon fibres and catch in for your tail. For beginners you want to aim the tail length approximately the same length as body of the fly. You can also use other tail materials such as hen fibres.

Step 4 – Trim away the waste pieces of the Coq De Leon and catch in some Glo-Brite floss for the hot spot. I tend to trim a length off around 6inches from the spool (you can use this piece for a number of flies)

Step 5 – At this point I tidy the fly up a little bit, trimming any waste pieces of Glo Brite away. Making a nice slim and smooth under body ready to wind the hot spot onto.

Step 6 – To make the hot spot I take the glo brite and wind it around the hook around 3-4 times, making a hot spot of around 3mm. Ensuring not to wind it over the tail. Of course like anything in fly tying, you can play about with the colour of the hot spot, pink, red, chartreuse are all popular choices!

Step 7 – The rib I’m using in this fly is a new product from Semperfli. It’s Flat Mirage Tinsel, I do sometimes tie this pattern with a wire rib also. Trim a piece of your chosen ribbing material and tie in.

Step 8 – after catching in the rib, take 3-4 Pheasant tail fibres and tie in at the tips. I like to keep the profile of the body quite slim so by using 3-4 fibres this is achievable

Step 9 – Take your thread back up towards the bead.

Step 10 – Wind the pheasant up towards the bead, taking touching turns making sure to cover the thread of the under body.

Step 11 – Tie off the pheasant tail with 2-3 tight turns of thread and trim away the waste ends.

Step 12 – Now take your ribbing material and wind up. I like to wind the rib the opposite way I wound the pheasant tail this just adds a little more security to the body as it is a fragile material! Aim to take nice open even turns. Depending on the width of your tinsel will determine how many turns you get, from the one I am using I get around 3 turns.

Step 13 – After ribbing the fly it’s now time to add the thorax. In this fly I’m using natural squirrel, a lovely spikey dubbing that makes the fly look super fishy! Take a nice pinch and dub onto your thread. Remember, it’s always easier to add than to take off so start off with less dubbing than you think you might need!

Step 14 – Wind your dubbing rope around the hook behind the eye to make a nice scruffy thorax

Step 15 – Whip finish and add a dab of varnish or super glue to finish the fly off!

I hope this was of some inspiration to a fly tyer out there or to anyone thinking of starting to tie their own flies! Be sure to come back next week To see another step by step. If you have any requests as to what you might want me to tie please don’t hesitate to drop me a line!

Tight lines!