Royal Coachman

HOOK: TMC 100, sizes 10-18 THREAD: Black TAIL: Golden pheasant tips WING: White calf tail, divided BODY: Peacock herl, then red floss, then more peacock HACKLE: Brown

Uses

The Royal Coachman is a traditional pattern. This dressing and its modern variations are probably the most popular flies in America. While they imitate nothing, they can catch trout when they aren't feeling selective and picky. If you use one during a hatch, when trout are feeding selectively on duns, you will probably become very frustrated.

 
Don't let the red floss fool you; when it is wet, it doesn't look very red.

 
I've always felt that brook trout were more receptive to this fly than rainbow trout.

Variations

The Royal Wulff and Royal Trude and Royal Humpy are popular variations of the Royal Coachman color scheme.

How to Fish

Dress the fly with floatant and use standard dry fly presentations.