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Glossary
fly

Stimulator

An attractor dry fly with an elk-hair wing and palmered hackle. Imitates stoneflies, caddis, and big mayflies all at once. Floats high; takes abuse.

Also calledStimulators

The Stimulator is one of the most adaptable dry flies ever tied. Yellow body imitates yellow sallies and golden stones; orange imitates salmonflies; tan imitates caddis. The palmered hackle along the body floats it through fast water; the elk-hair wing reads as a bug profile from underneath.

Sizes 8–14 for stoneflies and big caddis; 16–18 for smaller hatches. A standard searching pattern when nothing in particular is on the water.