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I tie a few hair winged duns but don't tie them as representations of any particular Dun or Spinner (imago) stage of any specific insect. They are however good “buggy” flies and are readily accepted by trout. Also because of the white calf tail wings there easy to see as light fades or in fast flowing water. I prefer the Royal Coachman to the Royal Wulff because of the Golden Pheasant Tippet Tail as opposed to the Deer Hair tail but like the Deer Hair Tail on the, Brown Wulff and Adams Wulff.  Their main function is as an indicator fly fished in conjunction with a second dry such as a small red tag, nymph or stick caddis or as a stand alone buoyant fly for use in fast water.

The Hair Winged Royal Coachman is an excellent example of a hair winged dun. It evolved from origins in England of the 1800’s. At that stage it was a simple wet fly with a Peacock herl body and white wing. The first step in its evolution, still in England, added the “Royal” red middle and a tail and then in America early this century the tail was changed to Golden Pheasant tippet and the wing was stood upright. In the 1930’s Lee Wulff introduced his classic Calf tail wings and a changed the tail to deer hair. Whilst the deer hair tail certainly makes the fly float better I still prefer the colours associated with the golden pheasant tippet tail.

See also Royal Wulff , Humpy and Trude

Materials

Process

A	Wind the thread in touching turns to the bend of the hook. Understanding hooks Take the thread back to 3/4 of the way toward the eye of the hook and tie in a bunch of white calf tail hair for the wings. Stand the calf tail up vertically and divide it with a figure of 8 tie. Upright divided hair wings Trim the butt end of the calf tail hair wing at an angle to the hook shank so that there isn't any obvious ridge. The finished wings should be around 1 1/2 to 2 times as long as the gape of the hook and should face a little forward with the gap between the wings being about 60 degrees..

B	Tie in a tail of 8 to 10 Golden Pheasant tippets to form a tail extending beyond the bend of the hook a distance equal to the length of the hook shank. Tails on flies Tie in 2 to 4 strands of Peacock herl using the opportunity to ensure that there are no ridges length hook shank where the wing or tail is tied in. Wind the herl around the thread to form a herl rope.

C	Wind the herl rope 1/4 of the way along the shank of the hook toward the eye of the hook to make the first segment of the body. Roping peacock herl Tie the herl off but don't trim the excess. Whilst holding the excess peacock herl flat along the top of the hook shank tie in a length of floss.

D	Wind the floss forward over the next 1/4 of the hook shank. Tie off and trim the excess floss. Remake the herl rope.

E	Wind the herl rope forward almost to the wing to make the third and last segment of the body. Tie off the herl and trim the loose ends. Tie in a red cock hackle in at the gap between the third segment of the body and the wing. The barbs of the hackle should be about 1.25 times the gape of the hook. Dry fly hackle

F	Wind the hackle forward taking an equal number of turns behind and in front of the wing but stopping short of the eye of the hook so as to leave room for the head. Tie the hackle off and trim the excess. Build up a neat head, whip finish and varnish.

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