Bodkin / Patterns

Psycho Frenchie

Nymph · Trout · Intermediate · 1 version

Fischer's Flies

  • Hook Ahrex FW555 Mini Jig, 3.5mm Hanak slotted tungsten bead, 16
  • Thread Purple 30 denier (Semperfli Nano Silk)

Materials

  • Lead wire (0.010, a few wraps to lock the bead)
  • Pheasant tail fibers Electric Purple (Risen Fly Co) (4-6 for the tail, 4-6 for the body)
  • Sybai flat wire, wide ultra fine Copper wire (one length)
  • Ice Dub Chartreuse ice dub (tiny noodle for the collar)

How to tie it

  1. Mount the size 16 mini jig with the 3.5mm slotted bead, jam a few 0.010 lead wraps into it, and start purple 30 denier Nano Silk right behind the lead. Lock the lead down before anything else so the bead can never rock.
  2. Select four to six purple pheasant tail fibers, measure the tail against the body length, and hold it with two or three wraps so you can slide it shorter if it comes out long. Bind the butts forward to just behind the bead and trim.
  3. Tie copper Sybai flat wire in on the near side of the shank and bind it back, then return the thread to just behind the bead. The flat wire gives sharp segmentation without adding girth.
  4. Take another four to six purple pheasant fibers, snip the brittle tips off for a square tie-in edge, and bind them back to the bend. Keep the transition to the wire wraps smooth. You don't need a heavy taper, but a lumpy base makes the finish messy.
  5. Whip finish twice to park the thread, set the bobbin in its cradle, grip the pheasant in hackle pliers and wrap it forward against the direction the thread was wound. A soft natural fiber is much easier to trap with thread coming the opposite way, especially with slick Nano Silk.
  6. Counter-wrap the copper wire the same direction the thread runs. Wire caught going with the thread locks; wire caught going against it can push back around the bead and pop loose.
  7. Spin a very small noodle of chartreuse Ice Dub and wrap a short collar behind the bead, then finish with two or three three-turn whip finishes so the slippery Nano Silk can't creep.

Tying videos

← All fly patterns