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Frenchie
A nymph, tied #12–18, carried year round. It is tied against 2 named insects in this book, and stands in when nothing is hatching — May–July.
A weighted competition nymph that is essentially a Pheasant Tail with a hot spot, the Frenchie is tied on a jig hook in sizes 12–18 with olive 8/0 thread, a tail of Coq de Leon fibres, a body of pheasant tail ribbed with fine copper wire, a thorax of fluorescent pink or orange UV dubbing, and a slotted tungsten bead at the head. The bead is what makes it work: it sinks fast enough to hold the bottom in faster water where a lighter nymph never reaches, and it is fished on a tight line, euro-nymphing style, through that water. The slim pheasant-tail body reads as a mayfly nymph, and it is tied against Pale Morning Duns in June and July at water temperatures of 50 to 65 degrees and Sulphurs from May through July at 52 to 68. It is also carried for mayflies generally and as a searching pattern when nothing on the water suggests a match. Trout are the target.
- #12–18Hook size
- nymphType
- AllSeason
- 2Hatches matched
What it looks like
A drawing, not a photograph, and not traced from one. Its proportions were read off 5 independent reference photographs of the pattern and written down as 5 measured characteristics — wing angle, tail length against the shank, how far a hackle fibre reaches — every one of which had to hold across more than one of them before it could be drawn. What survives across many photographs of a fly is the fly.
What it imitates
Each of these is the same hatch record the app's own panel reads, so a pattern recommended on a river card in the app is recommended for one of the insects below.
- Pale Morning Dun Ephemerella excrucians · June–July · 50–65°F · #14–18
- Sulphur Ephemerella invaria · May–July · 52–68°F · #14–18
It is also tagged for mayflies generally, no hatch at all — a searching pattern.
Tying recipe
In tying order. This dressing is the standard one — these patterns have been in the publicrecord for decades — and materials substitute freely: the proportions and the silhouette are the pattern, not the brand of dubbing.
| Hook | Jig nymph hook, sizes 12–18 |
|---|---|
| Thread | Olive 8/0 |
| Tail | Coq de Leon fibres |
| Body | Pheasant tail fibres, ribbed fine copper wire |
| Thorax | Fluorescent pink or orange UV dubbing hot spot |
| Head | Slotted tungsten bead |
When to fish it
A Pheasant Tail with a hot spot and a tungsten bead. Euro-nymphing on a tight line, in the faster water where a light nymph never reaches bottom.
Carried all year. The insects it matches are active may–july, in water from 50°F to 68°F.
Target species
- Trout
Rivers it fishes well
Rivers with a page here that sit in the regions where the insects this pattern imitates are recorded. It is a claim about coverage, not a report of a fish caught.
- Au Sable River northern lower Michigan · July mean 72.1°F
- Catawba River the North Carolina mountains · July mean 76.7°F
- Jackson River the Virginia mountains · July mean 66.3°F
- Muskegon River northern lower Michigan · July mean 71.0°F
- Escanaba River the Upper Peninsula · July mean 68.3°F
- Saint Croix River northern Wisconsin · July mean 77.2°F
- Smith River the Virginia mountains · July mean 51.9°F
- Tygart Valley River the Virginia mountains · July mean 74.6°F
- Kalamazoo River southern lower Michigan · July mean 71.3°F
- Aaron Creek the North Carolina mountains · July mean 76.7°F
- Aaron Run the Virginia mountains · July mean 77.1°F
- Aarons Run the Virginia mountains · July mean 74.2°F
Related patterns
Same type of fly, or tied for the same insects.
- Pheasant Tail Nymph nymph · #12–22 — The mayfly nymph. Beadhead or not, size 16, and half the trout in the world have eaten one.
- Copper John nymph · #12–20 — Heavy enough to be the anchor fly. Gets the whole rig down in one cast.
- Hare's Ear Nymph nymph · #10–18 — Looks like everything and nothing. The other half of a two-nymph rig.
- Higa's SOS nymph · #16–20 — Small, slim, and deadly in clear low water.
- Perdigon nymph · #14–20 — Slim, epoxied, sinks like a stone. The euro-nymphing point fly.