I spoke to my good friend Keith Passant recently about early season flies for the river and how the Coachman series is a great "bring 'em up" pattern. It lead on to a long and interesting conversation that, after we finished speaking, Keith delved into more deeply.
A conversation with Mr T prompted a bit of research into his favourite early season fly, the Coachman. It came about after I had done an article on tying paraloop flies. We were chatting and I said I would do a paraloop version of the Coachman but time and tide being what they are, impatient, I never actually completed my version. So this article was brought about by the research I mention above and the promise to do a paraloop version.
Like many great flies the Coachman has been varied frequently and has indeed spawned a variety of patterns. These variations at their simplest gave us the Leadwing Coachman. And at the other end of the scale there is the Royal Coachman.
So a bit of history may come in nicely about now. Like many flies from the early part of the 19th century it’s not a simple thing to find the inventor. From what I can see there are three people in the frame for originator of the fly. It was first referred to in the early 1800s, around 1810. The early references to it call it the Harding Fly. There are also listings of it being devised by a Tom Bosworth and another being a John Hughes. What is common to all of them is they all appear to have been employed as Coachmen at various levels within society, hence the name. Indeed it seems Tom Bosworth was a coachman to three sovereigns. John Hughes appears to have been related to a member of parliament. Mr Harding has no references to his employer. Indeed Courtney Williams in his Dictionary of Trout Flies is undecided as to whether the Coachman we know is the same as the one known as the Harding fly. He feels that the dressing is more like the fly we know as the Leadwing Coachman. So which came first, the Leadwing version or the white wing version?
It’s not until the fly crosses the pond to the USA that it takes on a few changes and spawns several now fairly well-known patterns.
The dressing for the original Coachman pattern is:
Body: Bronze peacock herl
Wing: White feather fibre. Nowadays it's white goose but formerly swan or landrail.
Hackle: Red (as in red game)
So what patterns has this fly spawned? Well there is of course the Royal Coachman first tied by John Haily where a tail is added of Golden Pheasant tippet and the body of peacock, red floss and peacock is seen. With regard to the tail there is also discussion that the original version by Haily was barred wood duck fibre. There we have two possible variants!
The Gold or Gilt Coachman, and an Orange Coachman bring two more.
Then there is the Royal Trude Coachman. Instead of feather wings it has a white calf tail wing that reaches to the mid-point of the GP tippet tail.
The Fan Wing Royal Coachman swaps the white swan fibre for Mandarin Duck breast feathers.
A hair wing version using impala tail was also tied and named after the customer. This fly was called the Quack after the customer’s name of Mr L Quackenbush. This fly also used brown hackle fibre in the tail and the may have been the origin of “Coachman brown” as a feather colour.
The Clipped Coachman from Taff Price uses a copper wire underbody prior to tying in the peacock and a thin hackle with a wing of short white feather fibre. This may also be a version of a fly I found in Roger Fogg’s book “Wet Fly-Tying and Fishing”. He calls it the” Something and Nothing” and it’s an even sparser version of the Clipped Coachman.
There is even a Grayling Coachman. It reminds me of a cross between a Grayling Witch and a Red Tag. The Lead wing Coachman uses a standard mallard duck grey wing quill the colour of new lead. This feather can be replaced with coot wing.
A hackled Coachman uses two hackles, white with a short red game wound in front of the white hackle.
There is even talk that possibly one of the best known dry flies ever created was born from the Coachman’s many offspring. The Royal Wulff tied in the 1930s by Mr Lee Wulff is thought to have been the offspring of the Quack. Who knows? There are similarities though. And the Royal Coachman Streamer is tied on a longshank hook to the hair wing pattern. In the UK David Collyer tied a Hackle Point version with the wound hackle being trimmed level with the hook point and the hackle points tied semi spent. This has given me the idea for a fly for Mr T.
The Coachman tied as a wet fly is thought to be representative of a sedge/caddis pattern. As a dry fly it might represent a moth. Whether it's trout, grayling or sea trout that are the target fish it’s fair to say the Coachman in a variety of styles is a good option. I make it over 15 different flies originating with our Coachman. And we are still counting.
And now here is my option. The Paraloop Hackle Point Coachman, After all it’s for Mr T and he aint no fool!
Hook: 14 Caddis or Living nymph hook.
Thread: 8/0 Claret Red
Tail: Golden Pheasant Tippets.
Body: In three parts Peacock Herl/Red tying silk or Red Floss/ Peacock
Wings: White Cock hackle points.
Hackle: Red Game paraloop style between the wings.
Start the fly as normal taking the thread to the tail tie in point. On this hook I have made that the point of the hook rather than the barb as it would be too far round the bend to tie in the tail. The next thing to do is tie in the GP Tippet. I tie mine in so that the second black band shows. It’s generally right for the shank length if you measure between the two bands on a medium sized feather. A single turn under the fibres lifts them just enough to level them with the shank.
Take the thread forward tie down the tail fibres and trim waste away. Take the thread to a point about 3mm from the eye and tie in a pair of white hackle tips.
Tie them semi spent, trim the waste and take the thread back to the tail.
Now tie in the silver wire rib and the peacock herl. Wind the herl to a point about a quarter of the way up the shank. Carry the thread forward and tie in the floss if you are using it. It's perfectly fine to use red tying silk to create the next quarter section of the body. I go down to the rear herl and back to create the floss section.
Tie in the post material and hackle. You may have enough peacock left from the back end to do the next body section. If not tie in fresh peacock herls and allow them to hang below the shank.
Wind the hackle up and down the post five or six times and tie of the hackle. Trim waste. Keep the hackle out of the way.
Wind the second peacock section right to a point just short of the eye. Now wind the rib.
Tie off and tidy up. Wipe the hackle fibres back so the majority are on one side of the post and compress the fibres by seperating the post loop. Bring between the wings and tie off.
Don't push the wings to the full spent position but rather leave them as in the picture at the start of the instructions.
Give it a whirl and see if this gives you a great start to the next trout season.
Tight wraps!