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Intruder

4K views 10 replies 11 participants last post by  daijones 
#1 ·
I thought I would give one a go



It’s big, I engineered it, it’s tied in the round and is translucent. I know without doubt it would provoke a predatory response, and before even casting this fly I have confidence that it would work -- must be an Intruder.

Of course this is not an Intruder. This fly, the Double Renegade variation, is a fly I have fished for as long as I can remember. It was one of my grandfather’s favorites. He and I had some epic days trolling this fly on the surface for large trout. I have posted this fly just to illustrate how easy it is to post information on the net, right or wrong. I am not sure why I feel such a strong need to protect the integrity of fly tying, maybe because I have put my whole life into it. Ed’s Intruder, I call it that because he was the “one” that developed the pattern, has a history very few understand. The covert nature of its development spawned the allure of not only the style of the fly but the system used to fish it. To fish the new oversized fly, a new system was needed. The standard lines of the day could not comfortably perform to the needs of this new generation of tactics. Fly lines were cut up and spliced together. New production rods from manufactures like Sage were becoming available, and the Pacific Coast double-handed movement was well on its way. The boys on the S rivers have received the most notoriety for the advancement of the monster lines, but in reality there were pockets of two-handed enthusiasts all over the PNW, including Idaho’s Snake River region, developing new systems to match the new two-handed rods. It was a very special time and I am grateful that I was able to experience the madness. I am sure my constant drive to perfect to the double-hand cast fueled my passion for steelhead and though I am not an Intruder or a Skagit Casting fan, I do respect Ed and the Skagit boys for their contribution to steelheading. I have some great memories of fishing the Skagit with Ed and came away with far more than I brought.


To help you understand where I am coming from, to me the Intruder is a Steelhead Fly that was developed by Ed Ward and anyone other than Ed trying to lay claim to its inception needs an ego check. Ed’s style of tying the Intruder is unique but would not fall in its own category. To me it is a subsurface steelhead fly with a smattering of influences. The Intruder is tied in the round as was the Grubs of old, so to say it is something new would be misdirected. An Intruder can be tied in any color combo as long as it is patterned after the original. Anything that varies from the original pattern would be considered a variation. This holds true with any named steelhead fly. I have no problem with innovative fly tying, that is what makes it so fun. So call it what you want, this is just my opinion. Rest assured, I won’t hunt you down and cite you for a code violation if you view it differently. Accuracy is all I am looking for. Most importantly, remember the fish don’t know the names of the flies, so what does it matter anyway?

Here is my take on the Intruder, Tied on a 3/0 like the first ones Ed tied, good tying and better fishing.

 
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#3 ·
Well said 24/7.

Marty as always your flies hit the mark. Creativity is the name of the game when it comes to fly tying, sure you can spend hours upon hours perfecting a Lady Caroline, but your own take on a certain fly is what fly tying is about.

Fly tying is like owning a dog, they almost always take on your character.

I share the same veiw as you, Ward will always be Mr. Intruder! Taking that same intruder and puting your style into it is the spice of life.

Borderfly
 
#5 ·
Nice post Marty! I agree 100% that the integrity of fly tying should be protected. Doesn't matter if it's a Green Butt Skunk, a Glasso fly, or Ed's Intruder. Just a guess here, but I think the reason there are so many variations on Ed's Intruder is because we don't have a recipe card from the man himself! SM1 covers it a bit and Dec's book does as well. But it's been such a secret no one knows the exact recipe, except Ed and probably a few other sworn-to-secrecy friends.
 
#10 ·
Marty,

Like you, I also have a very strong need to protect the integrity of fly tying, patterns, originators (when they are known), and the proper naming of flies. For without keeping things accurate, as you just so aply showed to all in this post of the RENEGADE), they lose all meaning and become useless to all. History amd use of accurate nomenclature and fly names is important for this very reason.
 
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