Stimulators

[Crawdad 0]

I fished some stimulators for the first time yesterday that I had tied up over winter. I noticed when they fell on the water, the majority of the time, they would fall on their side. Is there some trick to tying stimi's or casting them to get the hair wing to stand back and up? Thanks for any help.

 

I was also using a dropper of the Stimulator. Didn't think of it until now, but would have that had an effect on the side ways presentation? It was just a small brassie that trailed about 3 feet.

 

Thanks.

Marc

[Redwings1 0]

The only time I have had that problem was because my hairwing was off center a bit and was enough of a weight shift that the fly landed sideways.

The nymph dropper should not cause the roll if tied to the hook bend, and in fact should assist in keeping the fly upright; if you tie both your tippet and dropper to the hook eye though that could cause the turn.

[Crawdad 0]

 

The dropper was attached to the hook bend.

[Blues Brother 0]

Just make sure your tippet wasn't all messed up where it was tied to the stimi. I can't think of a problem in the tying if your wing is good. :dunno:

 

 

 

~Bryce

[WYKnot 0]

Try pushing the hair wing to the sides a bit with your thumb nail as you are tying the fly. Just flatten the wing out some - but don't overdue it. If your wing looks thick, try using a bit less hair. Proportionally, I tie Stimulators with less hair than I used for Elk Hair Caddis. Randall Kaufmann describes the steps for tying the Stimulator pattern in his book on dry flies.

[flyfishingwright 0]

I've had this happen when the wings are too heavy (too much hair) or too long. It affects the fishability sometimes, but other times they work just as well on thier side. I would add floatant, it seems to me that stimulators work best when riding high.

[RunninDetox 0]

Not sure which stimulator pattern you are using, but try taking your scissors and cutting the hackle in a "v" shape on the bottom, it will cause it to land upright. If it is hair you are using be sure that you tie it in directly on the top and not off to one side.

 

Experiment with a couple and drop it from a few feet into the sink with water in it. You can see before you get out on the water if it is working to your expectations.

 

Hope this helps,

Jay

[RodC 0]

Definetly trimming the bottom will work. Just wondering if you are using smaller hackle for the body than for the face of the fly?

[Crawdad 0]

Definetly trimming the bottom will work. Just wondering if you are using smaller hackle for the body than for the face of the fly?

 

 

I'm using hackle of equal size for the body and head. Should the head of the fly have a little shorter hackle than the body, or vice versa?

 

I'm not following a recipe of any kind. Just tying it according to pictures I've seen. I'm sure I'm missing some finer details in the construction.

 

I don't think I'm using too much hair in the wing, maybe, I'll try with less. It is centered over the hook though. I'll also trim the belly hackle, and see if they work.

 

Thanks for the suggestions!

[RodC 0]

The body should be at least one size smaller than the Front hackle. I bet that is your problem. At least one size... try even smaller than that just to see.

 

[StoneflyKid 0]

You could also try flaring the hairwing with your fingers before casting.

 

Flair it up and to the sides a bit. That should balance it out. And look a bit more like fluttering wings ; )

 

Adding rubber legs to your next batch really helps balancing the fly out.

 

Do you have any pictures of your Stimulators?

 

~StoneflyKid