Pheasant Tail Jig Flies - Adding hot spots

I'm going to miss fishing dry flies. I've really fallen in love with it this summer and after the BWOs start to taper off, I can only hope to get lucky with some occasional surface action on midges.

That being said, I know it's time to start getting ready for a long winter of nymphing. I've had some major luck on pheasant tails with hot spots (mostly orange) and I've caught quite a few fish on jig patterns over the winter so making pheasant tail jigs is a no-brainer.

Incorporating some orange to your PTs can be done a few ways. Here are 3 different variations.

All flies are tied using:
Dohiku barbless jig hook, size 16
Ringneck Pheasant Tail
UTC Ultra Wire
Jan Siman Peacock Broze dubbing
Tungsten Bead

First up, the easiest way to do it. Add a colored tungsten bead and call it a day.


Next up, try adding a collar. Finish your fly with the natural colored thread, and have another bobbin waiting with some neon thread to add a color. For this, I used Glo-Brite hot orange floss. I like to size down the bead when adding collars, I just think it looks cleaner.


Finally, here's a variation where I swapped out the gold ribbing for some orange UTC.


It's also time to chase Salmon and Steelhead again. I'll be heading to SRNY in 14 days. Here's a sneak peak of an upcoming steelhead stonefly post.