RINGNECK PHEASANT

 

By Terry Hellekson

 

    How many times have you looked at the feathers on a beautiful cock ringneck pheasant and wondered how they could be used for fly tying? What fly patterns call for any of these feathers? I never even considered these feathers until the early 1960s when Roy Patrick in Seattle introduced me to the Carey Special, then I only sought the rump feathers and ignored the remainder of the bird. Then in the 1970s we started recognizing Frank Sawyer, the English river keeper and fly tier, and his famous pattern, the Pheasant Tail nymph. So here we are some 30 years later and we are still hung up on the rear end of the ringneck pheasant.

    I must admit that I am as guilty as any other person when it comes to the "monkey see, monkey do" mentality that many of us have adopted. If a fly pattern is not presented in a book or magazine article, then not many of us go off on our own and create a pattern with the materials we have available. I am not suggesting that you just tie up some new creation with no purpose behind it. For instance, there are any number of feathers on a ringneck pheasant that can be substituted on existing proven patterns that can often improve that particular pattern.

    I am well aware that others have in years past made attempts to encourage the use of ringneck pheasant feathers, however, this is a different time and I don't think it hurts to revisit this subject once more. My purpose here is to try and walk you through some of the uses for these individual feathers. I am sure that for many of you this will spark some other creative applications.

    The amount of white feathers from the neck, or ring, will vary from one bird to another. Often there are so few good feathers it is hardly worth messing with. When I do come across a skin with a good quantity of these feathers, I have been able to find any number of uses. When tied in a clump, they make great posts on small parachute dries. I prefer them over turkey flats because of the finer texture of the barbs. As with turkey flats, they can be easily dyed any desired color.

    We have a small species of green aphids that appears on the river from about mid June until late August. I tie a very simple pattern that consists of just a body and wing. I dye the white neck feathers insect green for the wing. Then after it has dried I apply a thin solution of lacquer based head cement to the feather and stroke it into shape.

    My aphid pattern is rather effortless to tie and consists of the following:

 

 

Green Aphid

                    

                     Hook: Mustad 1510, size 16.

                     Thread: Cream.

                     Body: Dubbed with cream synthetic fur.

Wing: Dyed insect green pheasant neck feather tied flat.

 

        These bugs are very clumsy fliers, similar to caddisflies, and the fact that they are terrestrials works against them once a strong breeze carries them to the water's surface. I have my best success when my imitation is fished in the surface film.

    Some have suggested using these feathers for fan wings on dry flies―I disagree. In my opinion, fan wing dry flies are best suited for mounting behind glass in a shadowbox and they deserve only the best duck breast feathers available. Duck feathers have a nice little curve at the tip where white pheasant neck feathers have none. 

    These feathers have an iridescent green tinge that literally brings the feather alive. In addition to the many shellback terrestrial beetles that can be tied with this feather, I tie a black diving beetle pattern that most always does the trick for me. I use 2 feathers for the wing. I apply a thin solution of lacquer based head cement to the feathers and stroke them into shape.

 

 

Diving Beetle

 

Hook: Mustad R70, sizes 8-14.

Thread: Black.

Legs: Dyed black pheasant biots tied in at each side of body.

Body: Dubbed with black seal or synthetic fur.

Wings: Two blue-black pheasant neck feathers tied semi-tent style over the body.

 

    For more information about the diving beetle please refer to Aquatic Insects: A Breath of Air under Trivia in this home page. The body on my diving beetle is tied shaggy to enhance the entrapment  of air bubbles, and with the 2 wings slightly concaved over the body there is a cavity for air.  

    These feathers can also have a thin solution of lacquer based  head cement applied to them and then stroked into shape and used  for cheeks on streamers and steelhead flies. I often carry this a step  further and apply an eye using enamel paint. Most pheasant skins  will offer enough feathers where you can create a good range of  sizes. Other than for traditional dressing, I find these cheeks far  more practical than jungle cock―the price is right.

    Semiplumes or aftershaft feathers (hypor hachis) are found at the base of body feathers. Some fly tiers mistakenly identify these feathers as filoplumes and have named their flies as filoplumes, but this is a misnomer. A filoplume is less than practical for fly trying in that it consists of a long feather shaft with a small number of hair like barbs at the tip.

    I have seen semiplumes used successfully as wingcases on nymphs, but my favorite application is when they are used on mini leeches. These are ugly, scruffy looking little buggers, but they catch fish and that is what it is all about.  When retrieved their undulating bodies bring them alive.

 

 

Mini Leech

 

Hook: Mustad C53S, sizes 8-10.

Thread: Black.

Tail: Tuft of natural gray fluff taken from base of pheasant body feather.

Body: Natural gray pheasant semiplume.

 

    Semiplumes are rather fragile feathers, so care must be taken when wrapping them. For added durability of the fly, I recommend that you wrap your tying thread back over the base of the plume every couple of turns. Don't expect one semiplume to cover the body area of the fly, it usually takes 3 or 4. 

     The tips on these feathers have an iridescent green tinge, but I really do not believe this benefits any thing other than the "fly tiers eye." On flies fished subsurface, the density of the water filters out natural light and the fish probably only see a blackish image. These feathers have long been valued because of their mottled pattern. In addition to the many applications tiers of fully dressed salmon flies have adopted, other tiers find they also make superb wingcases and legs on nymphs, shoulders on streamers and collars on spider wet flies. These feathers are also a good substitute on many patterns that call for grouse.

    Some years back I was given a simple spider wet fly, Arnold's Best, and it has proven itself any number of times when I have been fishing stillwater. It is as follows:

 

 

Arnold's Best

 

Hook: Mustad R70, sizes 8-12.

Thread: Black.

Tag: Orange yarn.

Ribbing: Closely wrapped with fine silver thread.

Body: Black acrylic yarn.

Hackle: Pheasant saddle hackle tied on as a collar.

 

    Church windows are large, beautiful feathers that you will probably never see incorporated into commercial flies―there simply is not enough of them available on a skin to make them practical. I suppose this is one of the advantages of tying your own flies. Tiers of fully dressed salmon flies have found that they make attractive wings on their flies, but little else has been developed.

    When I get full skins I invariably pluck and bag all of the suitable feathers, then at odd times during the winter months I can be found tying up a selection of Matuka streamers. Here is one of my creations:

 

 

Pheasant Matuka

 

Hook: Mustad R74, sizes 2-6.

Thread: Black.

Ribbing: Copper wire.

Body: Peacock herl.

Wing: Pair of church window feathers tied back to back.

Hackle: Brown.

 

    This feather is most often associated with the Carey Special, but it has other uses also. These feathers are bleached and dyed various colors and are used for steelhead flies, Spey flies and some fully dressed salmon flies. The barbs are also used for legs on nymph patterns.

       

 

    These 3 feathers are left up to you to decide how they might be used. Feather #1 is found in good quantities on the underside of the tail and there is a good range of sizes. I have seen this feather used for burnt wings on dries and wingcases on nymphs. Feathers #2 and #3 are interesting and are good candidates for experimentation. Feather #3 does have possibilities as a shoulder feather on streamers.