Yellow Stimulator...

[Gaines'BowBum]

AKA "Stimmie"

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p140/ajaume/PA150259.jpg

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p140/ajaume/PA150260.jpg


Hook: Any 2 XL dry fly
Body: Yellow Dubbing or floss (I used UV yellow Ice dubbing)
Thorax: Brown or Orange Dubbing (I used Ginger Brown Ice Dubbing)
Wing: Elk Hair
Tail: Elk Hair
Hackle: Brown for the body/ Grizzly for the thorax
Thread: Yellow 8/0

Instructions:
1) Tie in and build a thread base.

2) Tie in a small clump of elk hair for the tail.

3) Dub a yellow body about the last 2/3 of the hook length.

4) Tie in a small brown hackle and palmer it to the rear, wrap to the back to secure the hackle. Wrap back over it towards the eye of the hook.

5) Form a thin layer of dubbing on the thorax with the brown or orange dubbing. This helps the elk stay a little better.

6) Stack a small clump of elk hair for the wing, and tie them in. It helps to use a couple of loose wraps and then cinch them down. Try not to allow the elk hair to flair, use your fingers to keep the hair down. Secure the elk hair down, towars the eye of the hook. Clip off the extra.

7) Tie in your grizzly hackle.

8) Finish dubbing your thorax.

9) Palmer the grizzly hackle, and secure it by wrapping over it. Using a zig-zag motion will help keep you from trapping the hackle down.

10) Whip finish and cut the thread off. Apply some head cement to keep everything tight up front.

I love this fly! And the brookies love them, too!! This fly is perfect for those small mountain streams... It floats well and is buggy enough to imitate lots of bugs. Including hoppers, stoneflies, caddis, and even large mayflies. Try playing with different color combinations to imitate others.

Ya'll enjoy it....

--Alex

[Gatorbyte]

Great post. Sharp pictures and easy to follow instructions. I just love how we are building up a nice little library. It's one of my favorite dries.

[Chris B.]

What size hackle did you use in the stimie here in the photo?

Oh and that looks like it will catch slimies:)

[Buck Henry]

Very nice Alex! BTW, the original "Stimulator" pattern was known as the "Sofa Pillow". Here is a little history of this fly:

The Stimulator is quite possibly one of the more popular and versatile patterns used in the United States. Randall Kaufmann introduced the Stimulator pattern. It is very much a knock-off of an earlier pattern called the Improved Sofa Pillow.

The original Sofa Pillow was created by a fly fisherman/tier named Par Barnes, in the 1940’s. As the story goes, Pat was guiding a group of Texans who, for the life of them, couldn’t catch a thing using small trout flies. To solve the dilemma, Pat tied up a huge stonefly imitation using some random material lying around of his tying desk. One of the Texans’ drawled, “Why, it’s as big as a sofa piller,” and the fly was so named. Later on in the 1950’s, Barnes made minor changes in the fly using a clipped palmered body hackle and renamed it the “Super Sofa Pillow” which later became known as the "Improved Sofa Pillow".


Kaufmann’s Stimulator became popular more through the marketing efforts of Randall Kaufmann. By merely changing the color of materials and adding various sizes, he created a pattern that has a wide variety of applications. The larger sizes are used to imitate large stoneflies or salmonflies or maybe grasshoppers. While in smaller sizes, the Stimulator is used for Caddis imitations.

[Gaines'BowBum]

Appreciate it fellas... The Stimmie is about the 1st and only fly I use on those blue lines. If they don't like the bigger ones, tie a smaller one on and you will usually get some strikes.

Chris B., the Brown hackle was from a Whitings 100 pack for a 14 hook. I don't have a hackle gauge, so I'm not sure about the Grizzly hackle... I think it looks a little big for the size 12 hook, but I doubt the fish will mind all too much... ;)

Stimulators are definitely a fly I try to keep my box full of... This was my second try at them... Not too shabby, huh?? Just don't ask to see the 1st try...:D

--Alex

[rainbowlover]

stimmies are allways good for a dry dropper combination too. easy to see, floats good and gets a few strikes every now and then:)

[fishinbub]

Nice fly, what does it mean to "palmer the hackle"? I am kind of new to fly tying and I haven't learned all the lingo yet.

[Gaines'BowBum]

It basically is just wrapping the hackle around the fly. I don't know where the term came from, but that's what it is. Hope it helps...

--Alex

[Chuck Morris]

Palmer:
A forward-spiraling hackle, a running hackle, with or without stem gaps; also called a "buzz hackle"; any fly tied with a palmer hackle. The tying technique of spiraling a hackle laterally along the shank or body of the fly; the hackled, artificial fly resembling the Palmer-worm, dated 1651; an artificial resembling the Palmer-worm, a hairy, wandering "tineid" moth larva. The term "palmer" comes from the wandering pilgrim-beggar or palmer;"... the palmer got its name from the pilgrims who walked... to the Holyland in fulfillment of a vow. When they came back home they wore pieces of palm leaves in their hats to signify they had made that long journey and were called palmers...Because the caterpillar, with all its legs, does a lot of walking, it likewise became a palmer"(Harold Smedley, Fly Patterns and Their Origins [1950]) the medieval palmer wore crossed palm leaves to indicate his travel. "The Palmer worm is a small worm covered with hair, supposed to be so called because it wanders over all plants." (Charles Bowlker, The Art of Angling [1839]).

The above is the definition of Palmer from "The Fly Fisher's Illustrated Dictionary" by Darrel Martin circa 1990

[fishinbub]

Thanks guys. I knew how to palmer hackle, just didn't know it.:)