Note - I have had the pleasure of having Don as a guide and friend in fishing in Northcentral Penna. Don is mentioned in many of the Penna Angler magazines and he specializes in fly fishing for wild trout at Spring Creek, Fishing Creek (Clinton) and Penns Creek. Don runs Fly tying Clinics and not only guides in Penna, but in Maine and Ontario. Don does the Show Circuit in the winter month. He can be reached at RD #2 Box 104-A; Cogan Station, PA 17728. Harvey Roberson (This is a really killer nymph and the rest is in Don's words).

I developed this pattern a couple of years ago. It is a cross between the Gold-Ribbed Hare's Ear and Pheasant Tail Nymphs. Both of these nymphs are deadly underwater pattern, so you can see my reasoning. The best attributes of both have been combined into one all-purpose nymph that is easy to tie, which makes it appeal to beginning tyers, and also to those of us who like to fish but don't have enough time to tie flies. A dozen or mole of these can be cranked out in no time at all, compared to the time it takes to tie either of its parent patterns. There is no wingcase, there are no legs, simply a tail, abdomen with gold wire rib, and a thorax. That's it, except unless you wish to make this a Bead-Head Hare E. Rooster.

Hook: Standard 2xl nymph - Dai-Riki 730, Tiemco 5262, Daiichi 1710. Tie in size #10 thru #18, or #20.
Thread: Danielle's 6/0 in either black, brown, olive, or coffee to match dubbing color.
Tail: Natural or dyed pheasant tail fibers, approx. equal to body length.
Abdomen: Pheasant tail fibers, created from the same fibers as the tail.
Rib: Fine gold wire
Thorax: Wasp Squirrel dubbing, or natural rabbit fur in black, dark-olive, rust, and natural. Pick out carefully on all sides to create a "fur soft hackle" Coordinate dubbing with thread coor.
Head: Will be of thread color, or of gold bead-head from 5/32" to 3/32" in #10 thur #16

There is no trick to tying this fly. The only difficulty some may have is with the pheasant tail fibers. Keep the tips even 1 tie them in place, halfway between point and barb with one turn of thread. Lay in the wire so the butt end reaches well into the thorax, and tie in with one turn. Then, maintaining tight thread tension, pull the pheasant fibers rearward, and wind the tying thread rearward, catching the pheasant fibers and forcing the butt ends to lay down, pointing away from hook eye with the first turn. Take only three or four additional turns to the rear until the thread is over the barb. Properly done, this should gather the tail together without splaying it. Wind tying thread forward halfway between point and eye. Wind pheasant tail fibers forward and tie in place. Wind wire rib in opposite direction of pheasant fibers and tie off. Create a dubbed thorax with tight thread tension, forming a ball about three times the diameter of the abdomen. Then pick out guar(l hairs all around. With this "counted" thread wrap method, you can tie this and the standard Pheasant Tail Nymph down to #20 without building bulk at the base of tail.