This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is a Royal Coachman.

Royal Coachman Dry Fly | www.johnkreft.com

I’ve shared a couple of Royal Coachman flies over the years as a TBT post and decided it was time to share them again. Why? Well, we’ve been on a fly fishing road trip for almost three weeks now and met a fly fishing couple on the Madison River. A discussion of flies ensued, and I asked him what his favorite flies were. He responded, “Royal Coachman”.

It’s funny to me how fly fishers tend to fish the latest and greatest fly patterns when the old ones work just fine…most of the time.

So, I’m sharing a several variations of the Royal Coachman. The bodies are tied with peacock herl and red floss. Tails and wings vary depending on the variation. For a history of these flies, click on the link and it will take you to the previous TBT post.

With the exception of the Royal Wulff, the remaining flies are from old fly boxes and fly wallets. I wonder who tied them?

Royal Coachman Wet Fly

Coachman Wet Fly | www.johnkreft.com

Fan Wing Royal Coachman

Fan Wing Royal Coachman | www.johnkreft.com

Royal Wulff

Royal Coachman Trude

Royal Coachman Trude | www.johnkreft.com

What’s your favorite variation? Do you still fish them?

Enjoy…go fish!

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3 Comments

  1. Recently return from fishing the Madison (did not see you) and counted some 28 cars at 3 dollar bridge.. Decided to fish further down stream and did well with caddis.. My question is how do you handle all people and find a place to fish??

    1. I’ve written about our strategy before. We arrive around 7 am and some days are the first in the parking lot. We fish for a few hours and quite by around 1 pm to get out of the heat and return to the river between 6 and 7 and fish until dark. We can usually find open spots to fish. Yes, $3 Bridge is a VERY busy place but this strategy has worked for us many years.

      John

  2. The RC has been a family tradition for a very, very long time. Some variations are so successful on some waters that I now, after decades of use, deny myself the opportunity to use them, thereon.

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