Royal Coachman
| Royal Coachman | |
|---|---|
| Artificial fly | |
Drawing of Royal Coachman, 1892 | |
| Type | Dry fly, Wet fly, Streamer |
| Imitates | Attractor |
| History | |
| Creator | John Haily |
| Created | 1878 |
| Materials | |
| Typical sizes | DF13 Royal Coachman 10–20 (Dry), 8–14 (Wet), 1–8 (Streamer) |
| Typical hooks | TMC 100 (Dry), Nymph hook 2X long (Wet), Straight eye streamer hook, TMC 9394 3x heavy 4xl |
| Thread | Black 6/0 |
| Tail | golden pheasant tippet |
| Body | peacock herl partitioned with red silk or floss |
| Wing | white wing |
| Hackle | brown or red-brown |
| Uses | |
| Primary use | Trout, grayling |
| Other uses | Steelhead, Atlantic salmon |
| Reference(s) | |
| Pattern references | Favorite Flies and their Histories, 1892, Marbury |
The Royal Coachman is an artificial fly that has been tied as a wet fly, dry fly and streamer pattern. Today, the Royal Coachman and its variations are tied mostly as dry flies and fished floating on the water surface. It is a popular and widely used pattern for freshwater game fish, particularly trout and grayling. Large streamer versions are also used for winter steelhead and Atlantic salmon.
In Royal Coachman – The Lore and Legends of Fly-Fishing (1999) Paul Schullery describes the Royal Coachman:
No fly better represents this freewheeling era [late 19th century] in fly tying than the Royal Coachman, which among the general public may be the world's best-known fly. Its name has the right combination of romance and class to appeal even to people who don't fish, and the fly has such a commanding appearance that few fly fisherman can resist having some permutation of the pattern in their fly boxes, even if they never use it. Most of them don't know it, but the Royal Coachman is the first great American fly pattern...
— Paul Schullery,