Royal Coachman Wet

[Big Brown Trout]

Hey guys I haven't been on lately, but after tying this fly I thought I would drop in and post. It's nothing special here, just a traditional Royal Coachman wet. I had a great day a couple of weeks ago at Roaring River tearing them up with this. I had never used the fly before but I rapidly caught 5 trout with it. (I lost track of how long it took but my wife said it was in under 30 minutes). Unbeknownst to me (and later pointed out by my wife) I had a crowd of 10 people stop fishing and gather around me while I fished this fly.( I guess I shouldn't be surprised I'm probably the only person fly fishing with a cane pole).

I got to talking with a guy from Texas who seemed very interested in my fishing. ( I heard him tell his wife, "Now this ol' boy here can fish". As I landed my fourth kept fish ( a nice sized rainbow over a pound). We talked a bit about fly fishing and I gave him a Royal Coachman with a little instruction on how to fish it.

Once I got home I realized that I was down to my last one. Obviously this would not do so I planned to buy some more. I stopped by Tim's Fly Shop on Friday. My plan was to pick up some material for wooly buggers and some head cement. I talked to the always delightful Tim Homesley, we discussed fly fishing, and traditional wets. When I asked if he had any Coachmen on hand he said it wasn't very likely as nobody really uses them down there. Well no problem I thought. I got a white duck quill and some partridge to tie some of my own. (dirt cheap prices to Tim ).

My wife wanted a long day of driving in the country so I was happy to meet her demand. Later on that night I dug out a few odds and ends, anyway here is the final result, the old-school, simple to tie and highly effective royal coachman. (which I now have a full supply of).

As they say the proof is in the pudding:

( the little one on bottom was my wife's)

I plan this to be a summer of fishing traditional wet flies so hopefully I will get the chance to post more soon.

[Wayne SW/MO]

On to the Parmachene Belle!

[Big Brown Trout]

lol I doubt I could do the married wings, I have a lot of trouble keeping single wings together.

[ness]

On to the Parmachene Belle!

BBT -- that's pretty cool. Just goes to show you don't need the $$$ tackle and the latest hot fly.

[Big Brown Trout]

i find a pleasant charm in the older simpler patterns tied with simple materials (thread and feathers). They worked years ago and still work great today without over complicating things.

[ness]

Fly fishermen over complicate things??? Pshaw!

[Greasy B]

i find a pleasant charm in the older simpler patterns tied with simple materials (thread and feathers). They worked years ago and still work great today without over complicating things.

I couldn't agree more. Have you ever tied or fished Tups Indispensable? It a wonderful combination of history. simplicity, and effectiveness.

[Wayne SW/MO]

I've fished the H&J Variant dry fly for decades here and in Oregon and it will produced surprisingly well on a given day. It's a rare day that it or a simple ginger hackle dry won't produce here.

[ness]

Googling...

[ness]

Huh, handn't heard of that one Wayne. Bushy dry files are a lot of fun, and I can see them better especially with some white in them.

Tups I've heard of, but never fished.

I like to old ones, just because.