Equipment Outfitters

The Stimulator is a favourite dry-fly pattern, which, coming from someone with vastfishing experience across the globe, says much for its effectiveness. It will take fish under varying conditions and Randall uses it on lakes and streams, but is at its best in fast water. The Stimulator is a combination of several attractor and exciter patterns and imitates caddisflies, stoneflies and, at a pinch, grasshoppers.

What makes the Stimulator so effective? Like many successful dry flies, the Stimulator imitates several food forms in general, yet nothing in particular. By varying tail, hackle, body and wing colours a variety of insects — both terrestrial and aquatic — can be matched. The Stimulator combines the general shape and characteristics of patterns such as the Trude series of flies with the attributes of more established downwing patterns such as the Sofa Pillow, all of which were designed initially to imitate the adult stoneflies found on rivers in the western United States. Kaufmann’s Stimulator, however, is not limited to the imitation of stone- fly adults: it is used with great success to imitate other aquatic and terrestrial insects, including adult caddisflies and terrestrials such as grasshoppers and cicadas. The Stimulator has all the characteristics of a western-style dry fly designed for fast-flowing freestone waters and consequently is ideally suited to the fast pocket-water stretches of South African rivers and streams.

It can be tied in large and small sizes as well as in various colour combinations, making it very versatile. Properly tied, the Stimulator is almost unsinkable and will float through the roughest of waters. As with all dry flies, buoyancy is largely dependent on hackle quality - I urge fly-tiers to tie their dry flies using premium-grade, genetic, quality capes wherever possible or the excellent saddle hackles now available. The fly’s buoyancy can be enhanced further by selecting hair that is hollow all the way to the tip. With thumb-nail pressure, the hair should flare easily and compress at the tie-in point. Selection of the correct hair can be the key to the successful performance of a fly in fast water, and - where possible - all hair should be tested before being used.

The usual fast-water angling techniques apply when fishing the Stimulator - but with one minor exception. Unlike many other conventional, fully hackled dry flies, I have found that the Stimulator and several other palmered hackle dry flies are often taken when they are allowed to swing across the current into a downstream position from the angler. I have never quite understood why trout take a fly that is dragging across the current, but it happens so often that it certainly pays to try this technique, particularly when trout are refusing patterns that are being fished with a dead-drift technique. Many anglers believe that patterns taken while drifting in this fashion are accepted by trout as they mistake them for adult caddis flies skittering across the water’s surface. Because the Stimulator is such an excellent floater it rides right up on the tips of its hackles and will dance in a most enticing way when allowed to skate across the current, much like an ovipositing caddis fly. Takes, especially if rainbow trout are the quarry, will often be fast and may occur at any point of the fly’s drift.

The colour variations of the Stimulator are limited only by the fly-tier’s imagination. While I carry the four basic colour combinations listed here, this does not mean that other combinations won’t be effective. The many materials available to the fly-tier, such as peacock herl, greatly increase the colour variations an angler can use.

How to make your own Stimulator?

Variation: YELLOW STIMULATOR

HOOK: Tiemco 2312, 200R or 5212, #8 — #16.

THREAD: 8/0 prewaxed, orange. TAIL: Light elk hair.

RIB: Fine gold wire.

ABDOMEN: Synthetic dubbing, yellow. HACKLE (ABDOMEN): Light ginger or badger.

WING: Light elk hair.

THORAX: Synthetic dubbing, amber. HACKLE (THORAX): Grizzly.

Variation: GREEN STIMULATOR

HOOK: Tiemco 2312, 200R or 5212, #8 — #16. THREAD: 8/0 prewaxed, yellow.

TAIL: Light elk hair.

RIB: Fine copper wire.

ABDOMEN: Synthetic dubbing, green.

HACKLE (ABDOMEN): Brown

WING: Light elk hair.

THORAX: Synthetic dubbing, yellow.

HACKLE (THORAX): Grizzly.

THE STIMULATOR

HOOK: Tiemco 2312, 200R or 5212, #8 - #16. THREAD: 8/0 prewaxed, colour to match thorax. TAIL: Elk hair, colour of choice.

RIB: Fine wire.

ABDOMEN: Synthetic dubbing, colour of choice. HACKLE (ABDOMEN): Colour of choice.

WING: Elk hair, colour of choice.

THORAX: Synthetic dubbing, colour of choice. HACKLE (THORAX): Colour of choice.

1. Stack 15 to 20 elk hair fibres in a hair stacker and tie them in above the hook barb. The fibres should be half the length of the hook shank.
2. Tie in a length of copper wire and spin a thin noodle of dubbing onto the thread.
3. With the dubbing form a neat, tapering abdomen over two-thirds of the hook shank.
4. Strip the webby flue from a hackle and tie the hackle in with the concave side facing the hook shank. The fibres should be equal to or slightly longer than the gape of the hook.
5. Wind the hackle back towards the tail in six or seven evenly spaced turns, and trap the tip of the hackle with the wire rib.
6. Wind the wire rib forward through the hackle in five or six evenly spaced turns, tie off and trim the excess. Trim the excess hackle at the tail.
7. Stack 20 to 30 elk fibres in a stacker and tie them in directly in front of the abdomen so that the tips of the hair extend to the bend of the hook.
8. Tie in another hackle with the concave side facing away from the hook. Spin a thin noodle of dubbing onto the thread and form the thorax over the front third of the hook shank.
9. Wind the hackle towards the eye in three or four close turns, tie off and trim the excess. Form a small, neat thread head, half-hitch and trim the thread. Apply head cement to the thread wraps.

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