Royal Stimulator                

Hook:   Tiemco 200R # 8 - 18

Thread: Dark Brown/Black/Hot Orange 6/0 Uni Thread

Tail and Wing: Deer Hair Texas Whitetail or Body Hair

Rib: Copper Wire

Palmer Hackle: Brown Cock

Body: Peacock Herl and Red Floss

Hackle: Grizzle

Thorax: Orange Dubbing

1/ First off wrap a nice even base of thread starting from near the front of the hook and extending to the point where you are going to tie in your first part of the fly, the tail. This point should be roughly level with the barb on the hook. Once this is completed go to the next step.
2/ Take a small clump of deer hair. You can either use a/ Texas Whitetail (if you are inexperienced with using deer hair this is recommended as it is less prone to flaring) or b/ ordinary deer body hair for those who can confidently tie it in without spinning it. The latter is preferable as it has better floating qualities. The length of the tail should be roughly equal to the hook gape.
3/ Next take a piece of copper wire and secure it to the hook at the rear of the fly. This wire should be tied in so that it protrudes out from the rear of the fly and is out of the way of your working space for constructing the rest of the fly. Once this is done trim the excess wire and cover with a few well placed turns of thread.
4/ Now find a nice thick piece of peacock herl. This will be used to construct much of the abdomen and the better the quality of the herl the better the quality of the finished fly. Tie this in the same way you did the copper in the previous step. With peacock herl always try and tie it in so that the thick part of the herl will be on the outside when wrapping it on later.
5/ This is the first fiddly bit. There are two ways in which to tie this body. I am showing you the more time consuming one because it better illustrates what is going on. Wind the herl forward to a distance equal roughly to the hook gape. Now tie it off and trim the excess. You have completed the first section of the body.
6/ Take some Red Floss, 4 strand is always good for this fly to add bulk quickly but single strand gives you more control. Wrap a nice band of red that is say equal to 1/2 to 2/3 the width of the previous body section. Bulk it up to whatever requirements you may have. You can see in the photo that the red floss and peacock herl are a very attractive combination.
7/ Once the floss has been trimmed it's time to add the second body section. Select another good piece of herl or alternatively use the left over from the previous section. Tie it in as we discussed earlier, fat side of the herl outwards, and wrap the second body section making it equal in size to the first. Tie in and trim off the excess peacock herl.
8/ Take a brown cock hackle. The size of this hackle is not so important as this is a bushy fly and fish taking it usually don't inspect it for too long. This means you can use the lesser quality feather from the edge of your cape or even the slightly oversized one. The hackle should be in reasonable proportions but don't worry too much as the fish don't seem to mind.
9/ Here comes the fun part. Take the hackle and very gently and evenly start winding it back towards the rear of the fly.  When you start to get near the back of the fly, carefully locate the wire with you other hand and catch the hackle with turn of it. From here carefully wind the copper towards the front of the fly, being careful not to crush the hackle fibres. Tie off and trim.
10/ With most of the fly completed, we now take a nice clump of deer hair and measure it off against the fly. You can see from the accompanying photo that the wing should come back to a point roughly level with the rear of the fly. This swept back style of wing is very common amongst the caddis family of insects. Make sure the deer hair tips are even, use a stacker if need be.
11/  Next tie in the wing. Firstly pinch the measured clump of deer hair in between your thumb and first two fingers of your left hand (for right hand tier). Now make several loops of thread around the hair and not the hook (see photo). Then pinching very tightly to stop it from spinning, attach the hair to the hook, starting with looser turns to the rear and getting progressively  tighter as you move forward. Don't flare it.
12/  If done correctly your wing should look like this. You can see in the previous photo the nice wing and the flared excess stubs to the front of the wing. This is caused by the tight turns in the last step. Trim these as close to the hook as possible without cutting the thread. This wing will float the fly in the worst of water.
13/  Now find a nice grizzle hackle. I use Hoffman saddle feathers as I can tie about 10 of these flies from the one feather. Tie the the feather in so that it extends towards the rear of the fly and the shiny side of the feather is facing you, the tier. This helps as when you start to wind forward it can't help but turn in the best possible making the perfect hackle. Trim the excess.
14/  Find some dubbing. I like hot oranges for this particular fly. Although the original pattern is more often than not tied with a hot orange thread, I prefer to actually dub it as I like the effects this bright dubbing can have when wet. Any bright oranges will do but I have a preference for the super bright dubbing. Add the dubbing to the thread  to form a dubbing rope.
15/  Now that you have the dubbed thread in place wind a nice thorax, starting with a thick end nearer the wing and tapering slightly as you reach the hook eye. Orange is definitely an attractor colour and the combination of peacock herl and red floss, two of the all time great attractor materials, make this a very appealing fly. When completed tie off.
16/  The last step is to simply wind the hackle forward through the thorax to the hook eye. You can see I use between 4-5 turns of hackle to really make it float well and give it the required bulk to finish off such a pattern. Once you have the required look to the pattern, tie off the hackle and trim the excess. Add a couple of half hitches and there you have it.

The Pattern

The Royal Stimulator is one of the most well used fly patterns in the USA today. It is fantastic as an attractor pattern but works equally well when Caddis, Grannoms and Stoneflies are about. In smaller sizes can be used during most Caddis hatches and has excelled on the Rubicon and Goulburn Rivers. It has also found great success on the Mitta and Swampy with many outsized fish rising through a lot of fast water to nab it. It has such a great attractor quality it can be used in moving water the year round from opening until closing and still take fish. Recent trips to New Zealand also proved up it's value whatever the situation and location. Many of you who come into our shop would be familiar with our videos, soon to be released, that show many fish to 8lbs casually  taking them from a bubble line but also slashing them from the surface as if they were going to fly off at any second. This is truly a great pattern that we cannot talk highly enough of.

The main problem most have with this fly is the tying. It is complicated and as far as normal trout flies go it have be 9/10 degree of difficulty. We hope that these instructions and accompanying photos help break down the misconceptions about it's tying and help you to, if not tie your first one, then at least possibly improve your current tying of it. Try this fly and a beadhead nymph below it on the Goulburn on Opening Day for the seasons first fish.

Regards

Antony