Not sure if this is a stone or a stimulator. Not that it couldn’t be either.
Let me know what you think.
Thanks, Byron
Definitely a Stimulator.
But I have to add that I have never tied nor fished a Stimulator.
And I do fish stonefly dries around 60-70 days a year, April through August.
John
Up on the Au Sable River in Michigan that would be called a “Mattress Thrasher”!
Essentially a Improved Sofa Pillow variant…oh yes, I guess some might call it a “Stimulator,” but that’s a different story…
Thrasher? Stimulator? I think that fly is one “Foxy Hooker”.
Does anyone know if the name of Randall Kaufmann’s dry fly was the ‘Stimulator’ or ‘Simulator’? I’ve heard both names at various times and I don’t have any of the old Streamborn catalogs to check.
“Underwing” Stimulator
Interesting history…
http://stevenojai.tripod.com/stim.htm
Also like that variation - The Mini Hot - developed by Greg Garcia:
http://www.charliesflyboxinc.com/flybox/print.cfm?parentID=181
PT/TB
Allan, It’s called a Stimulator in Kaufmann’s “Tyjng Dry Flies” (1991). That fly looks like the offspring of Brooks Stone meets Stimulator.
Allan, part of the confusion might be because Randall also had a fly called the Simulator, which was a simplified stonefly nymph.
Byron, I wouldn’t really call that fly a Stimulator since it lacks the Palmered thorax.
Jay,
When I tied this fly, I was thinking of the Soffa Pillow Stonefly as well as the Stimulator and this is what resulted.
Byron
Perhaps it is something like Marcella’s Trout Fly?:
John.
Ever use a Soffa Pillow or a Marcella’s Trout Fly for a Salmonfly?
That would be half Stimulator and half Sofa Pillow. With a little hint of a Bird’s Stone thrown in. 
My fly of choice for that application is the Satsop Stone, which was a blend of the Stimulator and Bird’s Stone as well.
Ralph
Byron -
It seems to me that a Sofa Pillow and a Stimulator are the same thing, for all practical purposes. Minor variations, at best, and one of the histories of the Stimulator is that Kaufman did a particularly good job of marketing the Sofa Pillow pattern under the name Stimulator.
So, no, I haven’t tied nor fished a Sofa Pillow either. Not familiar with Macella’s Trout Fly, except from the picture you’ve shown above.
About the only traditional salmonfly pattern I fished before I came up with my own FEB ( JC’s ) Salmonfly was a Clark’s Stonefly. Since I first tied the FEB Salmonfly, it is the only pattern I have used for that hatch. And it has done quite well for me both as a salmonfly, and in a smaller version with appropriate color change for a golden stone.
John
P.S. Coming to you from mile high McCall, Idaho. Will be in Hell’s Canyon in a few hours viewing the Snake River from the Idaho side in the Seven Devil’s area.