Frenchie 12/20/2025 Photo Album
As I mentioned in my last post on the silver bullet, I attended the 21st anniversary open house at Charlie’s Fly Box, and I watched Lance Egan spin some of his favorite flies. The silver bullet was one, but another was the frenchie, which caught my attention as a solid fish attractor. Lance provided ample testimony to support my supposition.
Lots of FibersI produced five silver bullets that I plan to test during blue wing olive season, so I turned my attention to the frenchie. In order to refresh my memory, I reviewed Lance’s YouTube video on tying the frenchie, and then I gathered the materials. I did not have several, so I made substitutions. For gray pheasant tail I substituted some charcoal antron, and I replaced the cream/pink shrimp ice dubbing with some gold antron. The gold antron actually looked similar based on the YouTube image in spite of the fairly significant difference in names. I replaced the coq de leon tail fibers with a sparse clump from a grizzly spade hackle.
From the TopI was rather pleased with my finished product. I suspect the key fish attracting features are the tungsten bead, slim profile and the contrasting colors of the red thread and gold color. I feel that my fly satisfies those needs; and, thus, will be a fish finder.
Materials and FliesI tied five to begin my experiment. Lance said that he uses this fly instead of a pheasant tail, so I plan to follow the same strategy. This means it will be present on my line during pale morning dun activity time periods. If the frenchie produces, I will probably find myself at the vise during fishing season generating additional supply.