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In the early 1900s, in Island Park, Idaho, Carter Harrison created the "Trude" fly as a joke for his friend and fishing host A. S. Trude. The fly certainly has evolved with a hackle tail and many other changes coming and going over time. My variant is to fill a particular niche in my fly box for a 'Royal Wulff' type fly but with a highly visible white wing not hidden by the hackle.
Materials
Hook |
Thread |
Tail |
Body |
Wing |
Hackle |
Knapek dry #10 to #14 |
Black |
Natural colored deer hair |
Peacock herl with floss band |
White calf tail |
Furnace or Cock-y-bonddu |
Process
A |
- Wind thread along the hook shank in touching turns and return the thread two thirds of the way up the hook shank.
- Tie in a tail of deer hair that extends behind the hook a distance equal to the length of the shank of the hook.
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B |
- Tie the deer hair down on top of the hook shank with firm but not tight wraps of thread to form a uniform under-body. If the wraps of thread are too tight the deer hair will flare out.
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C |
- Tie in two strands of peacock herl at the band of the hook.
- Form it into a herl rope and wind it forward one fifth of the distance along the hook shank to form the rear third of the body.
- Tie the herl rope off.
- Unwind the herl rope , do not trim the herl just lay it over the front of the fly.
- Tie in a length of floss where you tied the herl rope off.
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D |
- Wind the floss forward in touching turns the next one fifth of the hook shank forming the middle section of the body.
- Pick your thread up and tie off the floss.
- Trim the excess floss.
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E |
- Reform the herl rope.
- Wind the herl rope forward one fifth of the distance along the hook shank forming the final section of the body.
- Tie the herl rope off.
- Unwind the remaining herl rope and trim the excess herl.
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F |
- Tie a down wing of white calf tail in front of the front body segment
- Directly in front of the front body segment tie in a hackle with the dull (concave) side of the feather facing forward. This is important because if you tie a hackle in the opposite way the hackle fibres will face back in the way you expect for a wet fly. I have used a natural furnace hackle here with a dark center so as to extend the vision of a longer body when the fly is viewed from below. These hackle are often called Cock-y-bonddu hackles.
- Take your thread forward to just behind the eye of the hook.
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G |
- Wind the hackle forward in touching turns to just behind the eye of the hook.
- Build up a neat head whip finish and varnish the head.
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