Frances shrimps

[madkeen]

I've been messing about trying to do some frances shrimps after hearing about some good catches on these shrimps, its been a bit of trial and error(mostly).

[TheSpeyCaster]

lovely ties try a black one with a lime green head deadly in low water

[underghillie]

They look the part mk

[ballingall512]

Nice looking flies.

I love the francis a great fly, it produces very violent takes

A few wee tips for tying to get the perfect conical body.
A tube vice will really help, as it grips the tube solid and prevents spinning.
first off try using a bottle tube or a eumer shrimp tube, these will give you a head start on your cone shape.
Tie in the tail materials, Calftail, wool, hackle stems with a heavy thread, either 6/0 uni or utc 140, double your waste hackle ends back and forth, tying down each time, this will both make it last longer and add bulk.

Once these are tied in, build up a fat butt with the wool, as tightly as you can, usually about 3 turns forward , then criss cross over half a dozen times.
tie off the wool, and then tie in your hackle and rib., make a few turns of hackle, then tie off, run your thread up and down the tube bidy a few times, stopping short of the head, this will help start the cone shape. then tie in a second piece of wool at your hackle, use the wool to trap the hackle and sweep it backwards, 2 turns over the hackle then wind forwards to the head.
this method will give you a flawless cone shaped body, this fatter the cone the better, as it helps to set the hackle stems in motion when in the water

if this method doesnt work for you, try this one.

use stiff scandi style plastic tubing, and tie in your calftail and hackle stems. tie down securely, and trim the ends nice ans tight.
slide a large turbo cone up to the tail end of the tube.
Tie in your wool and use the turbo cone to build up a wide cone shape at the tail end, the cone will stop the wool from un doing, or slipping over the end of the tube after a bit of use.
if you want a heavier tube, then once the cone is in place, slip on a slipstream tube over the scandi tubing, and melt the ends of the scandi tube to hold it in place.

Happy tying.

enjoy.

Dave.

[builnacraig]

Nice flies MK, you tried one with a pink hackle?

It works.

BnC