McFlyLures 0 Report post Posted March 19, 2021 Stimulators are a classic pattern that just works amazingly. It has been in the boxes of many dry fly fisherman since the 80's, and is still popular today. In fact its one of the most effective patterns for much of the west. It can mimic a stonefly or caddis. According to a few online sources (evergreentrout.org, and flyfishersinternational.org) it was created by Randall Kaufmann who loosely based his design off of the fluttering stonefly made by Jim Slattery, which itself was based off of a pattern called the sofa pillow by Pat Barnes in the 1940's which is very close to the stimulator we have today. So this pattern has been in some ways been developed and improved since the 40's. Personally I like tying these in all black with red wire ribbing, this orange color, yellow, olive, and brown. They are all great colors to mimic specific forages in different rivers and seasons. I like to flatten the wing a little, as to not have it poof up as much as some you see online. The hackle choices also are important. I really like to down size the hackle for this fly, as it will sit better in the water that way, and in my opinion looks better. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FIN-ITE 34 0 Report post Posted March 20, 2021 Nice job Mac. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
McFlyLures 0 Report post Posted March 20, 2021 22 minutes ago, FIN-ITE 34 said: Nice job Mac. Thanks Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites