It's confession time. The nymph I use more than any other is a Pheasant Tail Nymph (they just seems to work everywhere and at any time) but I've had more Pheasant Tails fall apart in the late-season than I care to admit (especially when they've been well used throughout the season)!

I assume you know the feeling - you finally find the right depth, the right drift, fish start taking an interest, and then the hook gives up or the tying starts to unravel after a few too many fish. It's a different problem than losing one on a snag, but just as annoying - you're back to square one with a fly that you hoped should've had more life left in it.

Stan (of Nymphevolution fame) didn't think that should happen either:

So he's done something no other fly tyer has bothered to do - he's guaranteed them against it. If one of his new Unbreakable Pheasant Tail Nymphs (see below)  breaks within a year of buying it from us, he replaces it - for free.

Please Note: To be clear, this is a guarantee against the fly itself failing - the hook, the tying, the build - not a "lost it in a tree, send us a new one" arrangement. Break it, and it's covered. Lose it down a snag or to a specimen fish that snaps you off, and that one's still on you, I'm afraid - same as it ever was.

Now, I've known Stan's tying for a long time, and it's always been proper - clean, consistent, built to last a season (or two) rather than an afternoon.

But he's been experimenting again, and this batch of 9 different classic Pheasant Tail Nymphs is the result.

All are tied on size 16 Maruto heavy-wire barbless hooks, a 2.4mm premium glass bead for weight and a bit of flash, Premium French pheasant tail bodies built the traditional way, and ribbed in fine, ultra-strong copper wire that isn't going anywhere.

Every fly in the selection comes with its own 1-Year Unbreakable Guarantee certificate (see above), which is a nice bit of reassurance.

I've also included a list of 7 (and a half) tips you can use when fishing this pattern of fly - just read to the end!

Why this pattern, and why now?

Pheasant tail nymphs work because they're not trying to be clever and imitate something specific.

Baetis nymphs get dislodged from the riverbed all year round, on rivers and stillwaters alike, and trout and grayling absolutely gorge on them when it happens. Trundle one of these along the bottom on a nymphing rig and you're doing exactly what nature's already doing for you - just with a fly built to survive the encounter.

They're brilliant as a dropper in any nymph setup, the coloured beads make it easy for sight nymphing when the flow's slowed down enough to see what's happening, and on stillwaters a slow figure-of-eight retrieve on a floating line brings them to life. This is a fly for every month of the year, not just a "match the hatch in April" job.

Our selection gives you two of each of nine colours (18 Unbreakable PTN's in total), so you're covered for whatever the water's throwing at you on the day. The colour combinations included in our selection are (images of each are shown throughout this email):

• French Olive

• Chocolate Brown

• Simply Black

• Sterling Silver

• Pure Gold (*not real gold!)

• Candy Pink

• Kumquat Orange

• Pearl White

• Metallic Red

Click on any image or button to view these Unbreakable Pheasant Tail Nymphs.

The bit Stan has told me to say ...

"I'm only tying 50 of these selections. I hand-tie every one of these myself, and that's all I've made up for this trial run. Once they're gone, they're gone until the next batch comes off my bench - and given the guarantee alone is a first for UK fly fishing, I expect they will sell out really quickly."

So, if you're the sort whose flies give up on you before the fish do, this is the selection built guaranteed to stop that happening.

Each of our Unbreakable Pheasant Tail Nymph Selections contains 2 each of Stan's 9 different PTN's (18 in total), all tied on a size 16 Maruto barbless hook. We are supplying these selections in 2 different formats - either 'flies only' or a Boxed Selection (in one of our specialist slimline silicone nymph boxes) for an additional £10.

Or

Here's all the rest of the colours included within the Unbreakable Pheasant Tail Nymph Selection:

And, one for the ladies ...

*** Go on, you know you want to ***

Seven (and a half) tips for fishing the Pheasant Tail Nymphs this autumn:

1. This is when grayling start to take over. Trout rivers are about to close for the season, but the grayling fishing is only really just getting started - some of my best sport of the year comes through autumn and into winter, right through the cold snaps and frosty mornings. Don't put the nymph box away with the trout tactics.

2. Watch for the midday lull. On the coldest mornings, grayling (and trout) won't move much until the sun's properly up. Don't be afraid to have a lazy breakfast - a lot of the best autumn sport happens in that window either side of midday, not at first light.

3. Let the colour of the water decide the bead. Fined-down, gin-clear autumn rivers can make a shiny glass bead stand out for the wrong reasons on a bright day. After rain, when there's a bit of colour and pace, that same bead is exactly what gets noticed. Read the water each time you fish rather than assuming yesterday's setup still applies.

4. Fish it as part of a team, not on its own. The traditional approach is to run the Pheasant Tail as one of two or three flies - point, middle dropper, top dropper - so you're covering the riverbed, the mid-water and, on the right afternoon, the surface all in one drift. One fly rarely tells you the full story of what the fish want that specific day.

5. Try the induced take. This is the method the Pheasant Tail was more or less built for - as the fly drifts toward a fish (sighted or suspected), lift the rod tip gently to make the nymph rise in the water column, mimicking a natural nymph darting for the surface. It's often the moment that converts a follow into a proper take, and it works just as well when you can't see the fish as when you can.

6. Autumn leaf litter means dirtier drifts than you think. Leaves and debris coming off the bottom in the current can hide your fly's profile or foul your hook point more than you'd expect at other times of year - check your fly every few casts rather than assuming it's still fishing clean.

7. Slow everything down on stillwaters. As weed dies back and the water cools, a figure-of-eight retrieve that felt too slow in summer is often exactly right in autumn - natural nymphs are less active in cold water, and your fly should look the part.

7½. Always carry more than one colour. This is really the whole point of a selection like ours - French Olive and Chocolate Brown for coloured water, Sterling Silver or Pearl White for clearer conditions, and something like Kumquat Orange or Candy Pink for the days when the usual naturals just aren't getting looked at.

Remember: Autumn light and water conditions change fast; your fly box should be able to keep up.

TIght lines.

P.S. Full tying spec for the fly nerds among us: Maruto N°16 barbless wet (strong), 2.4mm coloured glass bead, French pheasant tail body, 0.1mm copper wire rib, tied light at 0.04g. Baetis imitation, built to break your record, not itself.