dry
Stimulator
- Sizes
- #8
- Imitates
- adult stoneflies · salmonflies · golden stoneflies · large caddis · grasshoppers
- Origin
- Randall Kaufmann, Pacific Northwest
Randall Kaufmann's Stimulator is a large, buoyant attractor dry fly that suggests adult stoneflies, caddis, and grasshoppers simultaneously. Its palmered hackle and elk hair wing provide incredible floatation, making it the ideal indicator fly in a dry-dropper rig. When big bugs are on the water, the Stimulator is the first fly out of the box.
Recipe
This is one dressing. Tie it in other colors to match the hatch in front of you.
Workbench
Variants
Swipe to see In box and Add
| Size | Bead | Body | In box | Add to box |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #8 | — | Orange | — | — |
At the vise
Tie in an elk hair tail and wing, dub a two-tone body with palmered hackle, and add a robust thorax with additional hackle wraps.
Tying video
Fishing now on
Rivers whose hatch chart names this pattern this month. Names and sizes only.
- Animas River#8-10
- Cache La Poudre River#8-10
- Flathead River Middle Fork#8-12
- Flathead River North Fork#8-12
- Flathead River South Fork#8-12
- Frying Pan River#6-10
- Gunnison River (Black Canyon)#8-10
- Jefferson River#8-12
- Kootenai River (below Libby Dam)#8-12
- Madison River#6-10
- Roaring Fork River#8-10
- Smith River#8-12
- Snake River (Wyoming)#6-10
- South Fork of the Boise River#6-10
- Yakima River#8-10
On the water
Fish the Stimulator as a dry-dropper indicator fly, suspending a nymph 18-24 inches below. It excels in pocket water and riffles during stonefly season. Dead drift it through heavy water, or skitter it to imitate an ovipositing stonefly.
History
Randall Kaufmann developed the Stimulator in the Pacific Northwest, drawing on the Sofa Pillow and similar stonefly patterns. It quickly became the standard adult stonefly imitation west of the Mississippi. Its success lies in its buoyancy and ability to suggest multiple food forms at once.