Hook Size 12/14/16
The Royal Coachman was the first American fly. Its name is enough to get most
angler interested in it. Once they see one, they have to have it. It has been tied
to fish dry, wet and even as a streamer. It is tied to fish for trout and grayling
primarily, but it has been tied in large patterns for steelhead. There are a lot of
variations of this original pattern. Some are the Royal Trude, Royal Coachman
Bucktail, a hair wing streamer pattern; Royal Coachman Streamer, which is a
feather wing streamer pattern, the Royal Wulff, a hair wing dry fly version and a
Royal Humpy, a hair bodied version dry fly. We sell most of these flies.
It was first tied as a takeoff of the Coachman Wet Fly. The first ones were tied to
be fished wet and then later, as a dry. We have a wet fly version of the fly, just in
case you haven’ t notice it. It is an attractor pattern and was originally tied as an
attractor pattern. It is made of peacock herl and red silk or floss. The wings are
white duck quill. See if you can guess what the tail on our version is made of.
The fly was firs tied in 1878 by John Haily, a professional fly-dresser living from
New York City. The Royal Coachman may be the most popular fly in the world.
The fly was most used to catch brook trout then and still is. It is one of the most
used flies in art. The colors of the fly obviously attract artist because is has been
painted by many, and some that were famous.
The fly is so popular, it’s also used in a lot of logos. It is probably in stock in
every fly shop in the nation. Not many fly shop owners would want to say “no , we
don’t have a Royal Coachman”.
Like most other attractor flies, the Royal Coachman doesn’t imitate any particular
species of insect. It’s best fished as a searching fly pattern when trout are not
feeding selectively on a specific species.
The fly is best fished with an up or slightly up and across presentation in fast
water runs and riffles. You don’t want to fish the fly in slow moving water or still
water. It is much more effective in fast water where the trout only get a short
glimpse of the fly. .
