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One of the first wet flies tied was the coachman and that consisted of just a black body and a set of white hackle slip wings. Over time flies have evolved and one path the coachman took was the substitution of a "royal" body for the simple black body. Many versions have been tied since and this is just one. The materials have been slightly tweaked by me to make the beard and wing a little darker and to make the fly a useful addition to my arsenal of top dropper flies for loch style fly fishing.

It is also a very good point fly when fishing a single fly on an intermediate fly line to rainbows. It has very little wind drag, plenty of hot spots and very attractive particularly to bows.

Materials

Process

A	Wind the thread in touching turns to the bend of the hook. Understanding hooks Tie in a tail of 6-8 Golden Pheasant tippets that is as long of the hook shank.

B	Tie 3 or 4 peacock herl along the top of the hook shank from the 90% position to the bend of the hook.

C	Form the herl into a rope and wind it forward, and if necessary back over itself to form a reasonably plump body section over the rear 1/4 of the hook shank. Roping peacock herl Tie the herl off along the top of the hook shank but do not trim the excess.

D	Tie a length of floss in half way along the hook shank and lock it down on the top of the hook shank right bach to the rear body segment. Return the thread to half way along the top of the hook shank.

E	Wind the floss forward to the thread in tight overlapping turns. Take a couple of firm wraps of thread over the floss at the 50% position and then lift the heral barbules out of the way and tie the floss off again on top of the hook shank.

F	Trim the excess floss. Form the herl back into a rope and wind it forward, and if necessary back over itself to form a reasonably plump body section over the next 1/4 of the hook shank. Tie the herl off along the top of the hook shank and this time trim the excess.

G	Invert the fly in the vice and tie in a beard of badger hackle fibres at the 90% position with the hackle tips partially obscuring the bend and bite of the hook.

H	Turn the fly back up the right way in the vice. Tie in a feather slip wing at 95% position. The finished wing should be about the same length as the hook and extending over the top of the fly at an angle of around thirty degrees. Build up a neat head, whip finish and trim the thread and finally varnish the head.

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