The Pheasant Tail is the nymph everyone owns and nobody regrets. This is the classic tie carrying a tungsten bead, which is the version that matters on the Eastern Sierra rivers, because it reaches the bottom of a fast run without a string of shot strung down your leader.

Fish it on the point with something smaller above it, dead drift, and work the seams rather than the middle of the current. On the Upper Owens it covers the baetis that come off through most of the season. On the East Walker it is the fly to start with when you have no other information.

Sizes 14 to 18. Hand tied by us in the Eastern Sierra, and it ships with a tutorial for the water it is made for.