July Freshwater Fly of the Month: Hair-Wing Royal Coachman

 July Freshwater Fly of the Month: Hair-Wing Royal Coachman

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The August Freshwater Fly of the Month selection takes us back to an old time - where modern fly tying capabilities didn't exist.   The Hair-wing Royal Coachman was a fly tied in the spirit of early times, with just the materials that existed.  Flies back in the early 20th century often took months or even years to be improved upon - a much slower pace than the improvement seen using todays modern counterparts.  But these flies were tied with tied by passionated fishermen, who endlessly tested and improved upon their own creations, trying to find that perfect look and feel that would make the fish jump out of the water.  The Wulff Royal Coachman (or Royal Wulff as it is popularly called today) was just one of those flies, tied by Q.L. Quackenbush.

Q.L. "Quack" Quackenbush was a member of the Beaverkill Trout Club, located in the Catskills.  In 1930, the group was trying to improve upon the Royal Coachman, because they felt that the fly's wings were very fragile.  So, Quack asked one of his partners in crime in the club to try and find a substitute for the fragile white mandarin (duck) fan wings.  They asked their supplier for any part of an animal that may contain a stiff, white, kinky hair that they could use.  They struck out with that request, but he did provide some impala tails: "Perfect!" They thought.

As a name, the Beaverkill Trout Club settled on "The Quack Coachman", after it's creator. The name as since evolved, with the name changing to Hair-wing Wolff Coachman, to Hairwing Royal Coachman, to it's commonly referred to present day name, the Royall Wolff.

This is a must have for any dry fly box and can be an extremely effective fly on the water.  

Hook: TMC 100, sizes 8, 10,12.Thread: Black, Pearsall's Gossamer Silk.
Wing: White Calf-tail, split and posted.
Tail: Coachman Brown Barbs, or Golden Pheasant Tippet (shown).
Body: Peacock Herl, with center portion using Red Pearsall's Gossamer Silk.
Hackle: Coachman Brown, Rooster Cape.