Stimulators 02/11/2025 Photo Album

Stimulators! I cannot think of a more appropriate name for this fly. They are easy to track, because they float high and dry on all those hackles, and the fish take notice. Fish are stimulated by the fuzzy image of a stimulator.

New Materials Purchased to Make Stimulators

Check out my posts of 02/13/2024 and 02/14/2024 for additional information on this popular fly. Each has links to previous posts for deep drilling this fly further. When I journeyed to Argentina for a fishing trip at Rio Manso Lodge, I bought a fly box in preparation, and it contained quite a few stimulators. When I returned to Colorado, I decided to experiment with them, and I was quite pleased with that decision. Since then, stimulators have become a necessary fly in my fly box.

Pale Olive Body Size 14

I primarily rely on three colors; yellow, gray and light olive. Yellow sees a lot of line time during golden stonefly and yellow sally seasons, and the gray and olive are effective searching patterns all year long. If trout are refusing my hippie stomper as the surface fly, I sometimes switch to a stimulator and trail a smaller dry in a double dry fly configuration. This combination is especially effective on high gradient mountains streams during the summer months.

Size 14 Yellow Stimulator

I counted all my stimulators and determined that I was adequately supplied except for olive, so I produced six additional size 14 and 16 pale olive body stimulators. In addition, I discovered four damaged yellow stimulators in my refurbishment canister, so I repaired them to yield two more size fourteens and two size sixteens. I am very anxious to roll out my stimulators in 2025.

A Batch of Ten

Deer Hair Caddis 02/02/2025 Photo Album

One can delve deeper into this fly by starting with my 02/11/2024 post and then following the links back in time. This fly has been a mainstay in my arsenal, since I began fly fishing in Pennsylvania in the 1980’s. This is not surprising given the prevalence of caddis flies throughout the world.

Olive-Brown Ligas Size 14

The fly is rather simple to tie with only a dubbed abdomen, deer hair wing, grizzly hackle, and dubbed thorax. The most difficult aspect of this tie is preventing the wing from rolling around the hook shank. My steps to prevent this are a solid pinch, twisting the thread clockwise to create a narrow cord with bite, and then winding forward a bit through the deer hair stubs in the same manner utilized for stimulators.

Light Gray Size 14

When I am fishing a dry/dropper and experiencing refusals or a single large dry fly that results in similar snubs, I often switch to a large lead dry with a size 14 or 16 deer hair caddis as the trailer. The large front fly enables me to follow the earth toned caddis, and quite often the fish suck in the trailer. The hippie stomper/deer hair combination can be quite effective.

Fresh Supply of Deer Hair Caddis with Materials

I have narrowed my supply of deer hair caddis down to two body colors; Ligas olive-brown and light olive, and these seem to serve my needs. I also carry some with a light tan body, but I rarely resort to them. I determined that I needed four additional olive-brown in size 14 and five more in light gray, and I quickly produced them for my fly boxes. I also tied four light gray in size 16 because I had them in an unraveling state in my damaged fly canister. Bring on the 2025 caddis hatches.

Harrop Hairwing Green Drake 01/31/2025 Photo Album

It appears that I have not tied Harrop green drakes in quite awhile, as my last post was on 04/13/2018, and that is very late in my annual fly tying cycle. My post of 12/29/2015 provides the story of my introduction to this productive fly. My lack of more recent posts suggests that I have not used the hair wing extensively in recent years, or perhaps I posted under a different name that avoids my search string.

Size 14

The hair wing version of the green drake is very similar to the comparadun from a color perspective; however, it possesses the unique characteristics of hackle and a swept back deer hair wing. The hardest aspect of tying the fly is positioning the angled deer hair as the last step and preventing it from rolling around the hook or sliding into the hook eye.

Size 12 Hovering

This fly is usually my third option during green drake emergences; however, on occasion I knot it to my line as a prospecting pattern, as it resembles a stimulator. I had quite a bit of success prospecting this fly during July on the upper Arkansas River during gray drake activity.

Batch of Six with Materials

My count revealed that I was running low on both size twelves and fourteens, so I cranked out four fourteens and two twelves. Hopefully these flies will see some action during 2025.

Parachute Green Drake 01/27/2025 Photo Album

Read my post from 02/05/2024 for a description of my love affair with western green drakes. Who does not like fishing to a large mayfly that emerges consistently on western rivers during the summer and mostly in the middle of the day? The trick is finding them. I have had pretty decent success targeting them on tailwaters, but the task of meeting them on freestones is a much more variable proposition.

My premier classroom for observing and learning about the habits of western green drakes is on South Boulder Creek. Emergences are fairly reliable from the beginning of August through the middle of September. Over the years I have developed a menu of four green drake dry flies for instances, where I encounter them. The parachute green drake is consistently the top producer, although I have learned that it shines during the pre-hatch time period and during the early stages of the emergence. Why? Are fish mistaking it for a spinner or is the low position of the body in the surface film representative of emerging mayflies?

Size 14 Parachute Green Drake

When I notice the flies fluttering during their clumsy efforts to get airborne, the effectiveness of the parachute green drake tends to wane. A switch to a comparadun or Harrop hair wing generally produces more favorable results, and this explains why I tie and carry so many types of green drakes dry flies.

Size 12 Angled Left

I went through a phase, where I tied green drakes with microfibbet tails and turkey flat wings, but I have now settled on moose mane tails and a white poly wing. The things that remain constant are the Ligas pale olive body with a maroon thread rib and the olive grizzly saddle for the parachute hackle. I have also discovered that the fly fishes better with a slightly over sized wing that equals a bit more than the shank length. I suspect the moose main tail is more visible than microfibbets, and a small clump is more effective in supporting the large fly.

Materials Needed to Tie Parachute Green Drakes and a Batch of New Green Drakes

I counted my supply of size 12 and 14 parachute green drakes with poly wings and moose mane tails, and I determined that I needed to tie six additional size 14’s and three more size 12’s. I also own a decent supply of parachutes with turkey flat wings, but they are relegated to the bottom of the pile. Unfortunately I need to wait until July to test the effectiveness of these flies.

Hippie Stomper 11/02/2024 Photo Album

The hippie stomper has secured a spot as one of my top producing flies if not number one. The beauty of this fly is its versatility. I tie only size 14’s on a 2XL hook, and this creates a relatively small foam body fly. Perhaps I should experiment with more sizes and colors, but my success rate with my narrow offering makes me question how much improvement I could gain.

My versatility comment stems from the fly’s buoyancy and size. The foam structure allows the fly to float quite well, and this translates to supporting two size 14 beadhead nymphs. Unlike larger hopper patterns, however, the hippie stomper is lighter and thus yields a softer landing in low and clear conditions. When fish refuse my size eight hoppers and chubby Chernobyls, I resort to the hippie stomper, and quite often the downsizing pays dividends.

The Beginning of My Tying List and Inventory Count

If I wish to go with a dry fly presentation, the hippie stomper is very productive solo or as the lead fly on a double dry arrangement. During the past season I experienced many fine days using the hippie stomper as the first fly along with a more imitative fly behind it such as a deer hair caddis or comparadun. The hippie stomper is very visible, and this makes tracking the typically drab trailer much easier.

As a solo fly, it is also no slouch. I believe that it imitates terrestrials and green drakes as well as other fish food morsels. It just looks buggy. If I haven’t convinced you of the versatility of this fly, I am not sure what else I have to say. This fly probably spent more time on my line than any other in my box including the dependable hares ear nymph and salvation nymph.

The Hippie Stomper Look

I settled on peacock and dark olive ice dub, as my preferred body colors on the hippie stompers that I tie. The body is only visible under the overlying foam at the back of the abdomen, so I am not convinced that color makes a huge difference. The creator, Andrew Grillos, favors various colors of flashabou, a tinsel like product. I have some reds, a silver, a blue, purples and bright green tied with the flash, but I rarely resort to them.

During September I was losing hippie stompers at an alarming rate, so I inspected my damaged fly canister and discovered, that I had five in need of repair. I fixed them by replacing legs and reinforcing unraveling thread, and I ended the season with plenty in reserve.

Twenty Completed and the Necessary Materials

Because of my inventory scare, I decided to make the hippie stomper my first tie of the 2024 tying season. I counted my supply and discovered that I had 25, so I suppose my concern was over done. I checked my tying checklist from the previous year, and I began the season with forty. Since five of the 25 counted were refurbished, simple math revealed that I lost twenty flies or half my beginning inventory. I collected all the necessary materials and tied an additional twenty to bring my 2025 beginning inventory to 45. Hopefully this will suffice, although I am certain that hippie stomper usage will once again increase in the new year.

Purple Haze 02/16/2024 Photo Album

The purple haze has slowly gained relevance in my fly box over the last several years. For more information regarding my introduction to this fly, please click on this link to last year’s post.

I find myself increasingly resorting to this fly, particularly during the mid-summer time frame, when I desire a large and visible mayfly imitation. The white wing post makes the fly reasonably easy to track, and the purple body seems to be a surprising fish attractor. The purple haze is a solid favorite with my float trip guide, Reed, and I have simply expanded my usage from there.

I experienced minimal shrinkage during 2023, so I added two more flies to my purple haze supply. I am quite anxious for purple haze season in 2024.

Gray Stimulator 02/14/2024 Photo Album

The gray stimulator is the stimulator equivalent of an Adams. The gray color seems to cover all bases, and the bushy, high floating dry fly is a superb searching pattern under nearly all occasions. My post of 01/29/2020 is a great starting point to understand the applications and versatility of a gray stimulator.

I counted my inventory, and I was relatively satisfied with my supply, so I produced only two additional models to stay in practice.

Yellow Stimulator 02/13/2024 Photo Album

My post of 02/22/2022 is particularly enlightening when it comes to yellow stimulators. I pluck one of these from my fly box quite often in late June and early July when golden stoneflies and yellow sallies are in their prime emergence period, but they also work as great searching patterns throughout the summer.

I produced five additional copies to replenish my fly box for the upcoming season, and I am ready for dry fly action around the corner.

Deer Hair Caddis 02/11/2024 Photo Album

The deer hair caddis is very effective for prospecting lakes and small streams. In recent years I enjoyed quite a bit of success utilizing light gray and olive-brown size 16 deer hair caddis in a tandem dry fly arrangement along with a more visible lead fly such as a stimulator or hippie stomper. This combination seems to work quite well in small mountain streams. My post of 02/22/2021 provides solid supplemental information about the deer hair caddis.

I counted my deer hair caddis flies and determined that I needed nine additional in olive-brown and seven in light gray. I also carry light yellow and tan, but my supply of those body colors was adequate. I approached my Renzetti vise and churned out nine additional in olive-brown and seven of the light gray color. Bring on the spring, summer and fall caddis hatches.

Green Drake Comparadun 02/06/2024

Review my post of 02/07/2023 for the latest modifications of my green drake comparadun tying method. If you read this post, you will learn that there are occasions, when the parachute style loses its effectiveness, and in these instances I default to the comparadun. I suspect the large and dark fanned -shaped wing better represents the dark fluttering wing of a natural western green drake, and this explains its desirability during the heart of the hatch. This is not always the case, but I like having some in my fly box for that eventuality.

I concluded that my supply of comparaduns with moose mane tails needed to be augmented, so I produced seven new ones on a winter day. One is earmarked for my friend, Nate, and the remainder will get added to my fly storage container. I cannot wait for the green drakes in 2024.