The Coachman - Classic Wet Fly - Trout Fly Tying for Beginners

One of THE most classic of all time fly patterns, the Coachman has spawned numerous variations over the years. This is the original and it is still a great fish catcher. While there are a couple of beginner fly tying techniques in this one that are good to know, it's still a fairly easy tie.
Hook: Wet fly #6-12
Thread: Black
Tag: Gold tinsel
Body: Peacock Herl
Throat: Medium brown hackle
Wing: White slips of duck feather
Savage Flies is a project with the mission of encouraging and teaching fly tying to as many people as possible. The channel is named after one of my western Maryland homewaters, the Savage River. I've been uploading at least three new videos a week (usually Monday, Wednesday and Friday).

[@martyrothman3933]

Thanks Matt I hope you're having a great day

[@wahoo056]

The Buddy Christ statue is priceless.

[@wayneandrews1933]

Ok my friend I did this and Last night I did the black coachman I think the the. The Royal Coach minutes one of my favourites

[@jeffreystone7327]

Beautiful fly. The Peacock Hurl rope is cool. Appreciate learning that technique. As well as the tip for tying on the main wing. With that tilt and tie. Great video. Great fly. Thank you Matt.

[@jamesvatter5729]

That's a definite classic, Matt.

[@SavageFlies]

Oh yeah. I've been tying flies for about three years now and last night was the first time I tied it. I've done a few Royal Coachmans but this was the first regular one. Winged wet flies are still challenging! Thanks again for watching James. :-)

[@chili1593]

Great instructions even I could follow. Need to get some of that wing material! Thank you.

[@poldebol]

Thanks for the videos

[@SavageFlies]

You're welcome! I appreciate you watching my friend. :-)

[@wayneandrews1278]

Great fry I’m gonna have to try one

[@davehall2160]

I will have to give it a try You make it look easy Keep the videos coming

[@SavageFlies]

Thanks Dave! It really was an easy one. But the next one is even easier... the video I made tonight (for Wednesday) is a Griffith's Gnat. It's only got two components and literally takes about two minutes to tie. Thanks for watching. -Matt

[@jefffuchs3787]

Love your videos. I am learning a lot and appreciate that you don't edit all of the imperfections out. As a new tyer, it helps to see how you correct something that doesn't turn out perfectly the first time which is the case for me most of the time.

[@SavageFlies]

Hey, thanks Jeff! I'm about as good at editing as I am at tying. :-) I'll keep this in mind going forward but I really appreciate the comments (and encouragement). Cheers, Matt

[@randymorris8740]

I have a trick for dealing with any stray white feather stubs poking out your finished fly's head, it's called a black magic marker... LOL

[@stephencooper8043]

Once again, a great video. I was curious if you do request? I'd like to see a parachute adams or blue wing olive if possible, Thanks Matt!

[@SavageFlies]

Thanks Stephen, and absolutely! I've only tied a parachute Adams a few times (the post can be tricky on the smaller ones). But I'll see if I can make a video of one. I've already got a few of this week's flies done so it might be next week before I can get one smooth enough to post though. :-)

[@gregleak5134]

I have not seen it done this way with the hurl but I am going to do it first thing Monday morning

[@SavageFlies]

Go for it Greg! And thanks for the note my friend. 👍

[@Jd-yc3gw]

Hey Matt. Just watching some of the older videos and I have a question. In the video you have a small white patch from the duck quills you cut off. My question is this, if you don’t have room to bury them could you color them with a sharpie?

[@SavageFlies]

JD- absolutely! I use a Sharpie on plenty of flies. Mostly foam bodied terrestrials like hoppers, ants or beetles but you could use it on any material that would take it. Probably wouldn't work for some materials like synthetics, but most feathers could be colored with a marker, and certainly threads can be. Some tiers will use mostly white thread and then when finishing the head, color the last couple inches of thread whatever color they want the head to be. Shorter answer-- do anything you want! Just have fun tying. :-)

[@Jd-yc3gw]

@@SavageFlies Good to know. I will keep a few around. I haven’t tried any foam yet but eventually will give it a try.

[@stephencooper8043]

Once again, a great video. I was curious if you do request? I'd like to see a parachute adams or blue wing olive if possible, Thanks Matt!

[@SavageFlies]

Stephen- I'm going to do a parachute adams soon. I just received my last materials order with some post material. All I had previously was calf tail and I tried a few with that but they didn't come out too nice. I'm going to try making the posts out of a synthetic and we'll see how that goes...

[@stephencooper8043]

@@SavageFlies Thank you Matt. Im really looking forward to it!