Trude

 

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
  1. Wind thread along the hook shank in touching turns and return the thread two thirds of the way up the hook shank.
  2. Tie in a tail of deer hair that extends behind the hook a distance equal to the length of the shank of the hook.

B
  1. 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.

C
  1. Tie in two strands of peacock herl at the band of the hook.
  2. 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.
  3. Tie the herl rope off.
  4. Unwind the herl rope , do not trim the herl just lay it over the front of the fly.
  5. Tie in a length of floss where you tied the herl rope off.

D
  1. Wind the floss forward in touching turns the next one fifth of the hook shank forming the middle section of the body.
  2. Pick your thread up and tie off the floss.
  3. Trim the excess floss.

E
  1. Reform the herl rope.
  2. Wind the herl rope forward one fifth of the distance along the hook shank forming the final section of the body.
  3. Tie the herl rope off.
  4. Unwind the remaining herl rope and trim the excess herl.

F
  1. Tie a down wing of white calf tail in front of the front body segment
  2. 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.
  3. Take your thread forward to just behind the eye of the hook.

G
  1. Wind the hackle forward in touching turns to just behind the eye of the hook.
  2. Build up a neat head whip finish and varnish the head.