[b][u]Half Caff
[/u][/b]This is a fly built off of the classic Stimulator pattern. It’s similar in profile but slimmed down for skinny water. Minus the tail, abdomen dubbing and thorax dubbing, and a sparse wing. It’s a stimulator, but with “half the caffeine”.
Hook: Standard Stimulator (stonefly) #12-16
Thread: 6/0 Rust Brown
Abdomen: Half-size silver badger over thread base
Wing: Light Elk
Hackle: Brown Hackle over thread base
i Like the skinny profile. Like a combo of the Clark’s Stone and the Stimulator…will definately have to make these, esp in smaller sizes. Sure looks like a good skater, for chasing those motorboat caddis
Maodiver,
It does work well in the smaller sizes. The pattern originated from a #16 Olive/dun version tied to skitter on some of the late summer tailouts.
Looking at the closeup, the tread almost looks like vinyl micro sized nymph ribbing…which gives me a good idea…hollow midge nymph tubing tied in without squeezing the air out…more floatation?
I will tie these soon. Maybe even today. Thanks for the addditional pics.
Ahhhh!..not a bad idea! Post a pic when you’re done. I would love to see the results.
Ralph
Seems to me it’s a physics question - something like will the weight of the inflated tubing including the material used to tie it in be less than the weight of the water displaced by the inflated tubing and tie in material.
Easy enough to check out - just tie off the ends of a section of tubing and drop it in a glass of water.
I was thinking about something along these lines a while back, wondering what kind of thin walled, durable tubing might be available, but since I didn’t have any need for flies that float better than the ones I have been using, I haven’t pursued it. One of the issues I was concerned about was collapsing the tubing while tying or fishing the fly - which adds weight and no floatation.
I will be very interested in your results, Mike.
John
Tried it today with Hareline Micro tubing
Size 20 was too bulky, even with the micro tubing…I don’t think there is tubing lighter. I have bigger stuff, but it woulda been way too bulky. The bigger stuff did float when I melted the tube ends shut. Tying a knot seemed to unrealistic for a float test.
size 16 looked OK, but i think the thread body is still finer.
Was a PITA to keep the tubing from unraveling without stretching it onto the hook. Fnding just the right tension was hard. Too tight, and I flattened the air out, thus ruining the purpose of the experiment…too loose and it was hard to get the wraps to lay down.
Will post pics tomorrow if you would like.
Could you wind a fine slither of closed cell foam in place of the micro tubing? I know it wouldn’t be translucent, but it would provide the buoyancy.
Would the buoyancy be in the right place with either material? Is the fly intended to stand up on its hackles or sit down in the film? If you want it to stand up on its hackles anything added to the hook shank would surely just increase the weight the hackles have to support. For it to aid floatation, if this is how you want it to float, it would have to be buoyant in air.
Somewhere I have some TMC 200r’s in size 20, I will have to dig them out and tie some of these.
Cheers,
A.
Just had a thought about this fly, and committed it to a hook.
The rear body is pearl mylar, without any thread under it. The hackle is tied in at the eye end of the hook, and wound towards the bend, then the corded pearl mylar is wound through it to hold the hackle in place. Haven’t found my small hooks yet so did this on a size 10 before I lost my inspiration.
Cheers,
A.
Alan…nice looking pattern. The added flash just may pan-out. Looks like minds are working. 
Ralph
Love the slim bodies gents. I think these flies would portray a closer to life profile of natural stoneflies. I find myself tying with less material for a given hook size as a rule anymore, and have been pleased with the results. Instead of early tying efforts resulting in sz 12 goodies on a sz 14 hook, I now tend to put out sz 16 results on a 14 hook. LESS is MORE!
aa
A function of the water you’re on. For a lot of the streams I fish, that would be a wet fly in a hurry; even at low flows, the stoneflies I run across in late spring/summer (yellow/lime sallies) still seem to prefer the aerated riffles. This is about as sparse as I can go and still keep it on top:
If I find the fish back in the slower sections, I’ll trim the hackle flat on the bottom.
Regards,
Scott
Nice lookin “Sally” Scott. I tie 'em just like that or for rougher water, put a little fanned out tail of the same bleached elk used for the wing on 'em.
