The Salmon Fly Stimulator
The Stimulator has proven to be one of the best producing flies, working as both an attractor and as a dry stonefly pattern. While this color scheme is specific to the Salmon Fly, one of our earliest hatches, the instructions for tying the Stimulator will remain the same for any variation. The Stimulator is not a difficult fly to tie, it just takes a little practice to get the proper spacing on the hook.

Hook: Tiemco 200 size 4 thru 8
Thread: Hot Orange 6/0
Tail: Natural Elk Body Hair
Abdomen: Orange Polypropylene yarn
Rib: Fine Black Wire (Brassie Color)
Body Hackle: Brown or Furnace Saddle Hackle
Underwing: Orange Krystal Flash
Wing: Natural Bull Elk Body Hair
Hackle: Grizzly Rubber
Legs: Black
Thorax: Black Dubbing

Step One: Attach thread to hook at 2/3 point from rear of hook. This is an important measurement, as we will use the tie in point to define the length of our abdomen, as well as other tying operations. Stack 25-30 strands (slightly larger than wooden match) Elk Body Hair. Allow the tips to extend approximately 3/16" beyond the bend , and cut the elk at the tie in point. Tie in elk hair, starting at tie in point, and continue to wrap moving towards the bend of the hook. The elk hair will be more easily controlled if it is held in the left hand for the entire tie-in procedure. Approximately 3-5 thread wraps before the rearmost material point, apply slightly less thread pressure to keep the hair from fully flaring. I call this "corralling " the flaring hair. Move thread back up to tie in point.

Step Two: Cut an 8 " piece of Orange Polypropylene. Most Poly yarn comes in a three strand configuration, and for this fly we will only need one strand, so separate one strand out and tie in at original tie in point. Holding the Poly yarn up from the hook shank and towards you, tie the yarn down until you reach the rearmost material point. Holding the yarn up and towards you during the tie in process will keep the yarn on the top of the hook shank, because the torque of the thread will pull the yarn from up and toward to the top of the hook.

Step Three: Tie in Fine Black Wire rib on far side of hook. Tie the wire in with 6-8 thread wraps, moving towards the eye of the hook, leaving a 1/4" tag extending beyond the thread wraps towards the eye. Fold the wire back towards the bend, and wrap the thread 3 times back towards the bend of the hook. This is called a trap wrap, and will keep the wire (or any other slippery material) from pulling out.

Step Four: Your thread will now be approx. 1/8" from the rearmost material point, which is the feather tie in point. Tie in the Brown Saddle Feather. This feather should be sized for a hook 2 sizes smaller than the hook being used, so if you are tying a size 6 Salmon Fly Stimulator, use a size 10 hackle feather. I use a hackle guage to measure the barbule length. This feather should be tied on so the shiny side faces forward. I use an X-wrap when tying on any hackle by the butt end of the feather. Place the saddle feather at a 90 degree angle to the hook shank, at the feather tie in point, with the stem facing the tyer, remembering to have the shiny side of the feather face forward on the far side of the hook. Take the thread and bring it from the left side of the stem (looking down on the hook) over the stem and shank and to the right side of the feather. Pass under the hook, come up on the right side of the stem, go over the shank and stem to the left side of the feather. This will place an X on top of the shank over the stem. Repeat the X wrap once, then pull the stem parallel to the hook shank and towards the eye, and wrap down the stem. Cut stem off before reaching the original tie in point while taking thread to original tie in point. The X wrap is much easier to tie than describe, and has 2 distinct advantages. One , the feather will never pull out. Two, the feather is in perfect position to wrap.

Step Five: Wrap Orange Polypropylene Yarn to the original tie in point and tie off. Remember that the feather tie in point was approx. 5 thread wraps forward of the rearmost material point. This is to allow one turn of Orange Polypropylene Yarn behind the feather, which protects the stem at its tie in point, which is the most fragile point.

Step Six: Palmer Brown Saddle feather to original tie in point, and tie off. Then wrap wire in opposite direction, tying off at original tie in point. Wrapping the wire towards you instead of away from you will have the wire cross over the stem many times, re-inforcing that stem. The trick to winding one material through another is to wiggle the second material slightly from side to side as you wrap it. The wiggling of the material allows the first material tied to find its way through the second material. This wiggling method works here as well as when double hackling a fly such as the Adams or Gray Fox. When wrapping in the reverse direction, it is inevitable that you will tie down some fibers. Note: At this point, you have noticed that a lot of things are happening at the original tie in point. Three separate materials are getting tied off here, and next we are going to add two more materials here. At some point, materials are going to work their way to a point closer to the eye of the hook than the original tie in point. Don't Worry! We have planned, by using a tie in point of 2/3 from the rear, for a little forward slide so that the finished fly has proportions of about 75% abdomen and 25% head. Also, if you end the body too abruptly, the wing will not lay down properly, but will flare almost like a reversed compara-dun wing when pressed into the abrupt end of the body. So, a little slide is good.

Step Seven: Tie in 4 strands Orange Krystal Flash, at the original tie in point, using the trap wrap method. The Krystal Flash shouldextend to a point midway between the body and the end of the tail. An easy way to conserve Krystal Flash is to tie the 4 strands in to length, with the long end hanging over the eye of the hook. Make 3 wraps around the Krystal Flash, then fold back the long end, giving 8 strands of Flash over the body. Make three more wraps back over the Krystal Flash to create the trap wrap, and cut to length. You can save the 4 pieces of Krystal Flash to use in the next fly.

Step Eight: Stack approx. 50-60 strands (slightly larger than 2 wooden matches) of Bull Elk Body Hair. Bull Elk is used because it is a straighter, more easily managed hair. The Bull Elk Hair should extend to the end of the tail or just slightly (1/32") beyond. Cut the Elk to length, and tie in at the original tie in point. This is the only spot in the tying sequence that will test the strength of your 6/0 thread, so give yourself a little longer butt end of hair to work with. The Bull Elk tie in point should originate midway between the eye of the hook and the original tie in point. This will allow the 6/0 thread to tie the Bull Elk in over a longer distance than normal, which does two things. A longer tie in point provides more "bite" on the material, for a stronger tie in. Also, if the bull elk begins to over flare, use the same Corralling technique to control the hair in the wing as you did on the tail.

Step Nine: Attach your Grizzly Hackle approximately 3 thread wraps closer to the eye of the hook than the original tie in point, using the X-wrap. The goal of this tie in point is to place the Grizzly Hackle directly over the point where the abdomen and thorax meet. The Grizzly Hackle should be sized correctly for the hook size being used, so a size 6 hook gets a size 6 hackle.

Step Ten: Move the thread to the mid point between the eye of the hook and the point where the abdomen and thorax meet. Attach the Black Rubber Legs. To do this, cut 2 pieces of rubber leg approximately 2 1/2" long. At the mid point of the rubber leg, tie it in on the near side of the hook with approximately 2 wraps. Thread pressure should cause the leg to flare some. Tie the other rubber leg on in the same manner on the far side of the hook. . Try to keep the wraps directly on top of each other, as a spreading of the wraps will hamper the flare. Don't worry if the rubber legs are not fully flared, well placed dubbing will provide the rest of the flare.

Step Eleven: Dub Black Dubbing to thread. Because we will be manipulating the Black Rubber Legs with our dubbing, it is important to place the dubbing on the thread in a very sparse way so as not to build up an oversized thorax. Wrap the dubbing to cover the tie in of the Orange Krystal Flash, Bull Elk etc, all the way to approximately 3 thread wraps from the hook eye. As you weave the dubbed thread through the Black Rubber Legs, you can use the dubbing to push the legs to more of a right angle to the hook by making extra wraps at the base of the rubber legs. This explains the need for sparse dubbing because with a too thick dubbing rope, you will get too much build-up when adjusting the rubber legs.

Step Twelve: Palmer Grizzly Hackle forward to point 3 thread wraps from hook eye and tie off. Neaten head with thread and then whip finish. Apply head cement to whip finish and the fly is done.

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