Fullback Nymph

The Fullback is a fairly easy pattern to tie, and it works. It really works. Begin on a hopper-type hook with a gold bead. Start your thread behind the bead and work down to just past the hook bend. Your first material will be a small bunch of pheasant tail fibers. Secure them with a few wraps where you ended your thread to create a stubby tail. You will use the butt ends for wing casing, so fold the butt ends back and take a few wraps to keep the wing case as close as you can to the tails you just tied in. For ribbing, I like to use a brassie size gold flat wire. I go with the flat rather than the round wire to give the ribbing a more pronounced look. Secure the wire where the back of your abdomen will be. The dubbing I'm using is an Awesome Possum in a light ginger color. You want this pattern to be pretty light in coloring. Dub up to the point where you want your thorax to start, taking some overlapping wraps to create a nice taper moving forward. To finish the abdomen, fold the pheasant tail fibers over the top and secure them where the abdomen begins. Next, take open wraps of your gold wire to create a clear ribbing through the abdomen. Don't cut off the balance of the pheasant tail. You will use it again as a wing case over the thorax. Take a few wraps back on the fibers to lock them facing the bend of the hook. The thorax will be the same dubbing you used for the abdomen. However, make it much thicker to create a clear, pronounced thorax. Pull the rest of your pheasant tail over the top of the thorax, secure it behind the bead, and trim off the excess. A single Hungarian Partridge feather is used for the soft hackle. Secure the feather, and take a wrap or two of the partridge feather right behind the bead. Try to stroke the fibers backward as you begin your turns and with each complete turn. Remove the stem, and then stroke all of the fibers backward and take a few thread wraps over part of the fibers to help all of them point back towards the hook bend. Whip finish and remove your thread. Your Fullback is ready to fish.