HOW TO FISH IT
Use a twelve to fifteen foot leader, tippet down to 4, 5 or 6X, fishing it on its own over or close to weed beds, using an erratic figure of eight retrieve, or short, smooth jerks about 5cm in length with a good pause between strips. Takes are usually very subtle.
My favourite method during the change of season months is to hang the small PTN about one metre below a very buoyant terrestrial hopper or beetle pattern, especially in the windy month of August, allowing the hopper to be blown across the lake with the tiny PTN bobbing to the tune of the waves.
RECIPE:
Hook : Any size you desire, I have Used an Allen Hook, N304 #18
Thread : Semperfli 18/0 dark brown
Tail : Fine Ostrich, dark brown ( Find they are tougher than the Pheasant feathers)
Abdomen : Ribbing – small copper wire, Natural Pheasant tail Feather biot wrapped to create abdomen
Thorax : Olive brown Hareline Hare’E Dubbing
Wing Case and Legs : Natural Dun CDC
Beads : For different weights to achieve different levels in the water column.
Glass Toho Seed bead of your choice, Orange if you would like a hot spot, I have used, Toho, Gold lined rainbow crystal #11
Brass bead – Pheasant tail colour 2,4mm
Tungsten – Firehole Espresso 2,5mm Tungsten Stone
The ingredients………………………..moving right.
Select a bead, glass, brass or tungsten, glue onto your choice of nymph hook, (I tie these from # 12 down to #20) or tie it without a bead, unweighted.
Choose thin Ostrich herl for the tail, prefer Ostrich as it is tougher than Pheasant tail, lasts longer.
Tie in three strands of Ostrich herl the length of the hook, for the tail.
Tie in wire for ribbing later.
Select Natural Pheasant tail for the biots, for the abdomen, I use three.
Rib the biots in the opposite direction to the way you are tying the thread, tie off. Note the Abdomen should be two thirds of the hook length in size.
Select CDC natural Dun to make the wing case and legs.
Strip the herl from the one side of the CDC feather and tie in. Tip- pull the CDC feather so that the tips are aligned with the butt of the hook. Once the CDC is tied in, to create the wing case and folded back to create the legs, this helps get to get the proportions/length of the legs correct without cutting the feather.
Select your dubbing for the thorax, one can use different colours, for example orange to create a hot spot.
Dub the thorax, which should be one third of the hook length.
Bring the cdc forward and tie in behind the bead, creating the wing case. We use CDC as it traps air bubbles mimicking the real insect.
Split the CDC fibres fold backwards and tie in holding them down to create the legs. The CDC provides very realistic legs.
Tie off and varnish your thread.
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