The Stimulator series of dry flies was developed by Oregon's Randall Kaufmann. It is a terrific searching dry fly for heavy water and effectively imitates stonefly adults. It is also a more than suitable ape for grasshoppers.

Part of the issue for us easterners is that Kaufmann's Stimi's are typically tied a great deal larger than we'd use, since western salmonflies, stoneflies, and hoppers can indeed overshadow our eastern bugs. Nonetheless, this is an effective pattern worth tying in sizes and colors to suit eastern US environments.

I have tied this tutorial on a #10 curved shank hook in a color scheme that will pass for hoppers and golden stonefly adults. You will see that allot has to happen in a small area to bring the pattern together so pay attention to material density, proportion, and maximizing the use of your thread!

MATERIALS

Hook: Curved Shank, 3 XL (#4-#14)

Thread: Flour. Red

Tail: Yellow Elk Hair

Rib: Undersized ginger hackle, counter-ribbed with fine gold wire

Abdomen: Pale Yellow UNI-Yarn

Wing: Yellow Elk Hair

Thorax: Peacock Herl

Hackle: Grizzly hackle through thorax

Place hook firmly in your vise.

Lay a base of thread.

Select a patch of dyed yellow elk hair whose tips are in tact.

Remove a small bunch, grasp by the tips and remove the underfur and shorts.

Stack the hair to even the tips. Remove from the stacker with your right hand so that the tips are pointing to the rear when you grasp them with your left hand.

Measure the tips to be equal in length to the hook's gap.

Secure them with 3 tight wraps. Allow the butt ends to flare to assist compression, but keep the tips on top of the shank.

Loosely spiral wrap the thread forward to the 2/3 point of the shank, then secure with several tight wraps. This will keep the hair capillaries in tact to aid in floatation.

Grasp the butt ends and lift them away from the shank.

Trim the butt ends.

Secure the butt ends with thread to avoid twisting around the hook later on.

Obtain some fine gold wire.

Remove a section and secure it on the near side of the hook in front of the underbody. Use TIGHT wraps so that the wire cannot slip out later on.

Obtain some pale yellow UNI-Yarn.

Remove a long section and secure it at the same point as the wire.

With just enough tension to maintain control, wrap the yarn back toward the tail overtop the wire, thus binding the wire to the rear also.

Reverse the direction and wrap another layer of yarn back toward the thread forming a smooth body. Secure the yarn with thread wraps and clip the excess.

Obtain a ginger hackle whose barbs are slightly shorter than the hook gap. Remove the basal fluff and leave a short portion of stem exposed. I prefer to use saddle hackle for this fly since I can get a denser barb count which relates to more barbs per wrap.

Secure the stem tightly in front of the body, with the concavity facing the rear.

Spiral the hackle to the rear in open and even turns. Shoot for 5 or 6 ribs on a fly this size; 6-8 would be appropriate for larger patterns. At the rear, hold the hackle upright and catch it with the gold wire, then proceed to rib over the hackle stem with the wire locking it in place.

Secure the wire with thread then remove the excess. Snap the hackle stem clean at the rear with a quick tug.

Prepare another bundle of yellow elk hair, this one about twice the density as what you used for the tail. Measure for the length of the wing to reach just beyond the base of the tail.

Make several tight thread wraps while holding the wing material in place. It is OK if the butt ends flare as that will boost thread compression. If they do not flare, you will need to make a few extra tight wraps.

Trim the butt ends and then cover and taper with thread.

Obtain a grizzly hackle whose barbs are 1.5 to 2 times the hook gap in length. Remove the basal fluff and leave a short section of stem exposed.

Secure at the rear edge of the wing with the concavity facing the rear.

Select 4 peacock herls. Roughly align the tips.

Lop-off the top inch or so to even the herl and remove the weak portion.

Secure them at the rear edge of the wing and bring the thread forward just shy of the eye.

Collect the peacock and begin wrapping them forward with the first wrap going behind the hackle. This will ensure a pleasing transition between the wing, abdomen, and thorax.

Secure the peacock shy of the eye.

Remove the excess.

Wrap the grizzly hackle forward in tight, yet open turns. Try to get 5 or so wraps-this is where using a densely barbed saddle shines!

Secure behind the eye and remove the excess.

Using your thumb and first two fingers, pull all the "stuff" away from the eye and build a small pleasing head. Whip finish and cement.

A completed Yellow Stimulator.

In this small size the pattern will be well suited to our eastern US waters.