Fulling Mill Sawyer's Pheasant Tail

Two materials, no legs, and it still out-fishes most of the box

Frank Sawyer built the original on the Wiltshire Avon in the 1950s from just pheasant tail fibres and copper wire, deliberately leaving the legs off because a swimming baetis nymph holds them tucked in tight. That stripped-back profile is why it sinks fast and gets refused so rarely. This version adds a red head as a micro hot spot, a small trigger at the point a fish looks first. Fish it on the dropper of a two-nymph rig in rivers, or let it sink and draw slowly in still water when fish are on the small stuff.