Tying an Intruder

I've been asked a few times to reveal the steps I use to tie our intruder. The Intruder has become more of a style of fly than a specific pattern. The original was tied by legendary Washington Steelhead guide Ed Ward. This variation of an Intruder is tied on a wadington shank with a small octopus style hook rigged in a loop of slickshooter. This set up enables one to change the hook so as to be always be fishing with a sharp hook. Different sizes and colors can enable you to target trout, Steelhead and Salmon, especially Chinook. We have used this fly with great success in the kenektok river Alaska West for Springs, as well as our west coast Steelhead and Chinook. Smaller patterns in olive are great for Bulltrout as well.

SHANK - Partridge waddington 25-55mm
LOOP - 35# slickshooter
THREAD - black
HOOK - octopus #2
TAIL - Polar bear and Arctic Fox on a dubbing loop
BODY - Guidebrod flat braid
HACKLE - Ostrich or Rhea wrapped over spun white polar bear
COLLAR -Mallard, fake spey or Schlappen hackle
HEAD - finish off with a nice set of machined eyes of your preference

First I Slip a hook on a length of slick shooter. Tie the slickshooter, or whatever your using for trailer line, on the top of the shank. Feed it through the eye of the shank and tie it underneith the shank as well. Make sure there is enough room to remove the hook when you need to change it.


Make a dubbing loop out of thin silver wire and put a bit of polar Bear in it. Colors are up to you. I find the softer and shorter fibers work the best. Twist the loop, wrap the Polar Bear and repeat the steps with normal thread and arctic fox right after.
You can either strip your rhea/ostrich and wrap it similar to hackle, or cut the individual fibers off and tye them in. I prefer wrapping, as it wastes less room and material. Tye in your body material, here I used BlueGuidebrod metallic braid, but use whatever you like...



Repeat the first few steps with more polar bear, Arctic Fox and Rhea tied up front. Like I said, colors are optional, pick a favorite fish catching color and work off of it with different shades and similar colors mixed in. I finished off this fly with Chartruese Amherst tied individually, pearl Krystal flash and black fake spey hackle, but Shlappen and large Mallard feathers work great wrapped up front as well. Finish the head with a set of nice dumbell eyes and zap-a-gap.