The Holographic Frenchie
Curtis - May, 2019
I'm not afraid of taking a given pattern and tweaking it to meet my nefarious purposes. So when I'd had a good solid year or so of fishing Lance Egan's thread Frenchie, I made some of my own tweaks and found a variation that seems to do well for me in different situations.
I used this variation last year on a couple of dry-dropper trips on small streams and along with a few other quick-drop slim nymph patterns, it did really well.
The breakthrough for me came on a two-day float down the Chimehuin River in the Patagonia region of Argentina. We had been fishing dry flies most of the first day and ended up switching more to dry-dropper rigs the second day. I had been messing around with different droppers and found that Lance's slimmer thread Frenchie was doing the trick for me. After I had a fish break off, I switched over to the Holographic version and the catch rate went up quite a bit for me. At the same time, Cheech also realized that the fish seemed to be shying away from more silver or gold beads. This "antique" style bronze colored bead seemed to be difference maker.
- Hook: Umpqua XC400BL-BN - 16
- Hook (Option): Hanak H 400 BL Jig Hook - 16
- Thread: UTC Ultrathread 70 Denier - Red
- Thread (option): 8/0 UNI-Thread Waxed Midge - Red
- Bead: Hanak Round+ Slotted Tungsten Beads - 2.5mm - Bronze
- Bead: Fulling Mill Slotted Tungsten Beads - 2.4mm - Metallic Brown
- Tail: Whiting Coq De Leon Euro Nymph Tailing Pack - Dark Pardo
- Body (option): Holographic Flashabou - Black
- Body (option): Perdigones Pearl Body - Black
- Ribbing: Semperfli Tying Wire - 0.2 - March Brown
- Ribbing (option): UTC Ultra Wire - Brassie Size - Sculpin Olive
- Hot Spot: Ice Dub - UV Pink
- Coating: Loon Fluorescing UV Clear Fly Finish
- Coating (option): Solarez Bone Dry PLUS 0.5 Fl. Oz. Squeeze Bottle with Tip
