The Frenchie is a Pheasant Tail that went to finishing school. That’s the short version. Lance Egan took a standard PT, moved it to a jig hook, and added a UV shrimp pink hotspot at the collar behind the bead. The result was a pattern that won national championships and then didn’t stay in the competition circuit — it moved straight into guide boxes, where it’s been sitting ever since. Mine included. I have a whole row of them and somehow always feel one short.
Egan is a multi-time United States national fly fishing champion. He didn’t invent the Pheasant Tail or the hotspot concept, but he dialed in the proportions and the materials in a way that makes the Frenchie feel different from similar flies. The pheasant tail body gives it movement that UV ice dub alone doesn’t have. The pink hotspot does something to pressured fish — on Deckers, where every rainbow has seen thousands of traditional PT variants, the hotspot triggers eats that identical flies without it don’t.
Nobody has a clean explanation for why, and I’ve stopped pretending I do. Fish on this river are conditioned to reject anything too familiar. Add one element that doesn’t quite fit a natural silhouette and they eat it. Trout logic. You learn to stop arguing with it.
The short answer
The Frenchie is Lance Egan’s competition jig nymph — a Pheasant Tail tied on a Hanak H400BL barbless jig hook (#16–18) with a slotted tungsten bronze bead, a Coq de Leon tail, a ringneck pheasant body, and a sparse UV Shrimp Pink Ice Dub hotspot at the collar behind the bead. Fish it point-position on a euro rig or under an indicator at Deckers in flows over 200 cfs, on 5X fluoro (6X below 150 cfs) — it earns its keep year-round on pressured Deckers fish, plus Cheesman and the Dream Stream. That’s the recipe and the game plan; everything below is the why.
Is the Frenchie a euro nymphing fly or can you fish it under an indicator?
Both. It’s built on a jig hook and tungsten bead, so it shines in the point position on a euro rig, but it fishes just as well under an indicator at Deckers in flows over 200 cfs. Same fly, same drift, two rigs.
The Recipe
This is a Pheasant Tail at its core, but every material choice matters. Don’t substitute the pheasant tail fibers for dubbing — the natural fiber wrapping is what gives the body its translucent, segmented look.
Hook: Hanak H400BL Competition Jig, barbless, sizes #16–18
Bead: Hanak slotted tungsten, bronze, 2.5–3.0mm for size 16
Weight: Lead wire, fine gauge, 5–6 turns optional under bead
Thread: UTC 70 Denier, red — underbody reads through the pheasant tail wraps
Tail: Coq de Leon, pardo, 5–6 fibers
Body: Ringneck pheasant center tail fibers, wrapped tight — the dark brown-gray tones are what you’re after
Rib: UTC Ultra Wire, copper, small — cross-wrapping the pheasant for durability
Hot spot: Ice Dub UV Shrimp Pink, 2–3 sparse turns at collar behind bead
The hot spot is the whole point. Keep it sparse — one full loop of material is enough. Overdress it and you change the fly’s proportions. The pink should read as a flash of color, not a collar. Egan is deliberate about this: the trigger is the contrast between the natural pheasant body and the UV pink, not the bulk of the material. I’ve ruined plenty by getting greedy at the collar, so learn from my vise and stop one turn early.
For the South Platte, sizes 16–18 cover most situations; I lean to #16 in high water early season when you need to get down fast.
When It Matters on the South Platte
Deckers is where the Frenchie earns its reputation on Colorado water. Year-round. This isn’t a seasonal pattern — it’s a pressured-fish pattern, and Deckers fish are pressured twelve months a year. The UV pink hotspot in the clear winter water, in the low-light conditions of early March, triggers fish that have already inspected and rejected five other nymphs in the same drift. It runs in both the midge-heavy winter rig and the BWO spring rig. Flies & Lies carries it as a house pattern and includes it in winter combo packs specifically for Deckers conditions.
Cheesman Canyon at sizes 16–18 in the faster runs and pool heads. The jig hook rides point-up through rocky substrate — fewer snags means more time in the water. Cheesman fish are selective in a different way than Deckers fish; they’re used to technical presentations in broken current. The Frenchie sinks fast enough on a jig bead to reach depth in the heads of pools before the fly sweeps past the hold. Fall and winter are prime, but it fishes well spring through fall in the canyon’s broken pocket water.
Dream Stream in the deeper seams at sizes 16–18. The slower flat water between weed beds is where the Frenchie produces less predictably — it’s a better choice in the current tongues and the transition water between flats. Fall and early winter before ice conditions push fish out.
My take
The Frenchie’s job in my box is specific: it’s the fly I reach for when I’m certain fish are there, certain the drift is clean, and still not catching them. On this river, that describes a lot of afternoons. The sparse pink collar buys one more honest look from a trout that’s already audited everything else in the rig — why that works is above my pay grade, and the fish aren’t telling. I keep a full row tied, mostly 16s and 18s, and the row still runs short by the time the season does. That’s the only endorsement a fly ever needs from me.
How to Fish It
Euro rig or indicator — this pattern works both ways. On a euro setup, it belongs in the point position as the heavier fly, with a size 20 RS2 or Juju Baetis on a tag 18–20 inches above it. Under an indicator at Deckers in flows over 200 cfs, run it the same way.
5X fluorocarbon on Deckers in standard flows. 6X when flows drop below 150 cfs and fish are tight to the bottom in slow, clear water.
The jig hook matters specifically in Cheesman. The point-up orientation in the fast current prevents the constant snagging that kills drift time on standard hooks. More drift time is directly more fish on this water.
Set on anything that doesn’t look like a natural drift. Frenchie takes can be subtle — fish eat it and sit. Your sighter hesitates, or the line goes slightly heavy. React to anything unusual. You’ll set on a lot of rocks learning the difference, and that’s fine — the rocks never complain, and every so often one of them turns out to be a trout.