Body Cock pheasant tail fibres, natural (3-6 fibres)
Thorax DRC dubbing, pale yellow (light cahill) (a noodle about an inch long)
How to tie it
Mount a Hanak H450BL in a size 14 with a 2.5mm gold slotted tungsten bead. Tim ties it 12 to 18, with 14 and 16 the money sizes. Match the cahills on your own water.
Jam the primrose thread up against the bead to lock it in place, run down the shank a little and clip the tag. Add more wraps if the bead is still moving.
Tear three to six Coq de Leon fibres in medium pardo from the stem and line them up at about the length of the shank.
Tie them in leaning towards you, then gently pull them your way as you wrap rearwards so they roll onto the top of the shank and finish pointing straight out the back.
Trim the butt ends away.
Tie in extra-small gold UNI-French wire, dropping it into the slot on the shank to hold it in place and catching it with a pinch wrap or two. Tim matches rib colour to bead colour as a matter of habit. Gold bead, gold rib.
Select three to six pheasant tail fibres. Do not use a prime tail for this: hold them by the tips and trim the tips off, because they are the fragile part and cutting them squares everything up. You want the cut ends finishing about halfway through the thorax.
Tie the fibres in with one pinch wrap, wrap back a turn or two so they end exactly where the tail fibres end, then advance the thread forward to the thorax.
Wrap the pheasant tail forward. Lean that first turn back slightly so it covers any thread peeking through. There are times you want the thread showing, but not here. Take three wraps over the fibres at the thorax and a couple in front, then trim.
Counter-wrap the gold wire forward in evenly spaced turns. Counter-ribbing is what protects the pheasant tail fibres from a toothy fish.
Secure the wire with a wrap or two over and in front, then two more hard wraps, pull down tight and helicopter it off. Helicoptering breaks it closer to the hook than scissors would.
Dub a thin noodle of DRC pale yellow, about an inch or a little more. The classic Frenchie wants a brighter, heavier noodle; this one stays fine, but you do want a substantial thorax you can see over the top of the bead.
Start the first wraps almost into the pheasant tail, work forward, back, and finish tight against the bead.
Go straight into a three-turn whip finish. Put a little Sally Hansen on the thread first if you want head cement, add a few more wraps, trim, and trim off any fibres standing proud. This thorax should read clean, not buggy.