fossil-fish
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Pheasant Tail Nymphs?I am tying up some various coloured hot spot pheasant tails in different combinations. So far I have not felt the need to add any hackles. As much to do with my poor tying skills as oppossed to choice, things tend to get a little crowded at the eye. 
The ones that I have finished look Ok-ish, and do not seem to require a hackle. Any one else any thoughts?
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apache
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FF as most of my fishing is mainly dry fly ( im not a dry fly purist by the way ) I have tied ptns up to fish with but never found the need to tie a hackle in as i like to keep the nymph nice and slender and to me a hackle would only add bulk. Going back to dry fly my friend was fishing woodford wed night a civil service competition. He was fishing size 26 dry flies and he said his biggest fish was about 14 lbs he had about 10 fish that night 3 of which where in the high lbs mark. I know you fish woodford so you should tie up some small dries and give them a go.
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fossil-fish
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Cheers Apache and thank you.
That was some fishing. Hope to get back to Woodford next week.
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Beatnik69
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I don't think I've ever seen a hackled PTN.
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apache
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Sorry FF i rushed the last reply because of she who must be obeyed wanting on the computer  What i was trying to say was i know you fish woodford pretty often.) On wed night athough my friend was fishing size26 the fish where feeding on stuff you could hardly see and probably impossible to tie. The one fish he took home on examining the contents of its stomach he couldn,t believe how much minute stuff it had eaten. There was no big buzzers, sedge or any other large flies in it .No caneis that night either.The fish had ignored all sorts of large natural flies so i think the moral of this is when fishing woodford at night fish really small dry flies, degrease your leader often and hopefully catch more fish . I hope this helps you and you tie up some size 26 to try. But if not im sure the PTN will be as good as its always been and as i said before i keep mine slim.
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fossil-fish
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Cheers Apache, but I don't think that I could even see a size 26 hook never mind tie one. In recent years I have even given up using anything smaller than a 20 in my coarse fishing. Even then it was very seldom I felt that I needed to go smaller than an 18 for pleasure fishing.
Smallest I have tried so far are 18s, but I may get myself some 20s for very simple patterns. I managed a fish and some takes to a parachute emerger tied on a size 16 b100. That to me is a tiny fly 
We shall try and think smaller.
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FIREY BROWN
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Small FliesHi All
here`s my tuppence worth LOL
small flies feature a lot on the menu especially at this time of year as there is plenty of fly life around infact i saw that much fly life at my local Club water i was amazed at what was on the water,,some stuff (and i call it STUFF because it was hard to tell exactly what it was) was so small it is virtually impossible to represent so my answer to it is simply to tie up size 22 Hares Ear CDC`s..i`ve been fishing these on a tapered leader ONE fly only in flat calms and even during caenis hatches with great success,i`ve had more fish than i care to remember on these tiny flies with 4lb tippet so its definately worth the effort to tie some and give them a throw..
22 is the best i can manage due to failing eyesight,,or some would say OLD AGE lol 
Regards
FIREY BROWN
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fossil-fish
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Hackles?So, back to the original question. I take it no hackles on PTNs is the way to go.
These are size 12 B170s, hot spots are orange, peach and green flurocescent floss, no hackles. Hoping they might take fish that are feeding on buzzers, but also that they will fish a little bit higher in the water than my usual varnished thread type.
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FIREY BROWN
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PTN`sFirst Class Fossil
they will surely take fish for you no doubt about that
Regards
FIREY BROWN
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harry_lfc
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the only ptn i have seen with hackle was one that was tied to be a dry flies they look good youll get fish on them
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fossil-fish
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Thanks guys, I am sure I could easily have spoilt them by trying to cram a hackle in there. Asking this simple question has led to a great thread. Thank you all.
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FIREY BROWN
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PTN`sFossil
as your original question asked should you put a hackle on a PTN the answer should maybe be "why not" ? if it were me tying a PTN and i wanted to add a hackle i would tie the body as normal,tie in the PT fibers for the thorax cover then tie in a hackle,dub the thorax and make 1 or 2 turns of hackle then take the thorax cover over and tie off,,,try it and see how it looks and more importantly Fish it to see if you have any success with it,,
Here`s one i prepared earlier,,PTN with a hackle,,i cant think of a
single reason why this wouldn`t work
hope this is helpful
Regards
FIREY BROWN
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fossil-fish
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Firey,
That looks fantastic. I notice that the hackle seems to be over the thorax and not cluttering the head, as was my original concern. Will give that a try.
Cheers.
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apache
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Really nice PTNs FF & FB i would have great confidence fishing with those. Now FIREY BROWN !!! OLD AGE  Errmmmmm i think i might have to agree with you there  But failing eye sight Not me  Well not now. My wife got so fed up with me moaning on about not being able to see to tie the STUFF as you call it she bought me a headband magnifer with illumination . When you have it on you look like an ALIEN out of DOCTOR WHO  even my 3yr old grandson wont come anywhere near me when im wearing it . But i have found it a great help  Gee FB it must be OLD AGE wearing this to tie flies .Now i think young FF at a guess  im sure FB will agree with me thats its amazing when fishing small dries how well you can see them on a flat calm evening even with failing eyesight  . Give them a go FF & dont forget to degrease often . Great thread FF thanks & TIGHTLINES APACHE
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fossil-fish
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Apache,
Thank you for all your advice, on this thread and others, about tiny dry flies and how to fish them. I got to use some of Firey's to great effect last night. Finally starting to get my head round how devastatingly effective these patterns and methods can be.
THANK YOU
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apache
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No problem FF. Hopefully next time your fishing woodford it,ll be you who,s catching while others are watching
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fossil-fish
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| apache wrote: | | No problem FF. Hopefully next time your fishing woodford it,ll be you who,s catching while others are watching |
We'll not go that far just yet 
Just catching would be nice.
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