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Patterns

Frida

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Frida is the little sister of the beloved Grey Frede, and that alone is a recommendation

By Martin Joergensen

Frida is the little sister of Frede - the renown Grey Frede, which is one of my all time favorite flies, and certainly one of the patterns that I have caught most fish on. Like the Frede, Frida comes from the vice of Danish fly tyer and fly angler Peter Loevendahl. There's a lot of variations of this fly once you start digging into it, but I take my lead from Danish Thomas Vinges fantastic books on Danish seatrout patterns "Havørred på kysten I & II" (Seatrout on the Coast I & II), due out in German this year as it is. Fabulous books! Highly recommended.

Frida is tied with the same basic materials as the Frede and does have a resemblance to this fly, but is much lighter dressed and does have that narrow waist that your best friend's younger sister is supposed to have.
The Frida is a small and compact, yet shiny fly meant for seatrout, but definitely useful for other species too - panfish in small sizes, bonefish in larger. If you look at the shape of the fly, it's pretty close to the Bonefish Bitters, and tied on larger, stainless hooks I don't doubt that it would do very fine as a bonefish fly.

Frida does have that narrow waist that your best friend's younger sister is supposed to have

There are color variations of this fly - as there is of its big brother - but I prefer a grey one, tied with grizzly Chickabou and grizzly hackle. The original is tied in a combination of brown and olive.

Frida

Type	Cold saltwater fly
Originator	Peter Loevendahl
Difficulty	Medium
Target species	Bonefish Panfish Sea trout (sea run)

Materials

Hook	Partridge CS45 #2-4 (I used a stinger style hook #12)
Thread	Black 8/0
Eyes	Bead chain, black or chrome 3/32 inch or 2.5 mm
Tail	10-12 straws of pearl flash
Rear body/rib	4-6 straws of smooth pearl flash
Hackle	Grizzly, dry fly quality
Head	Grizzly marabou/Chickabou dubbing

Alternative tying method
I find the original method of catching the hackle with the ribbing a little cumbersome, and I have my doubt the the ribbing will last, so I tie my Fridas with a different, easier and more durable method. After having finished the rear body I cut all surplus flash and tie in the hackle. I wind this forward in 2-3 close wraps, tie down and trim. Then I dub the front body over the eyes. This protects the hackle and saves you having to wind the rib through the it and over the head and the eyes. If you want flash in the front as on the original, you simply tie in some flash, twist it with the tying thread and form a head of the flash/thread combo. Make a small whip finish, cut the thread an varnish and you're done.