Deneki Outdoors Fishing Lodges

Alaska | The Bahamas | Chile

Intruders on the Cheap – Part 2: Tying Intruders with Rubber Legs

Stuart Foxall's Rubber Legged Intruder
Cheaper, tougher, and just as fishy.. Photos: Stuart Foxall.

Last week we ran part 1 of our two part ‘Intruders on the Cheap’ series, where Stuart Foxall gave us step by step tying instructions for the Marabou Intruder, a cheaper but nonetheless effective intruder style fly pattern. Today, Stu is back with part 2 of the series with a great step by step on substituting rubber legs for more expensive, less dependable, and more brittle materials. Thanks Stuart!

Tying Intruders with Rubber Legs

The question that I’m asked most often is, “Where do you get your materials?” It definitely appears that folks are struggling to find good rhea for their intruders. And there is always the chance with postal orders that the feathers sent may not be up to scratch.. That’s hard to take when they cost so much money!

Not all of us are able get into a good fly shop to check what we are buying. However, there is a way of guaranteeing quality no matter how you buy your materials. We can buy man-made synthetic materials! Not only are these materials usually cheaper than natural materials, but they are generally tougher, more consistent in quality, and hold their colors much better as well.

Here’s my take on an intruder-style squidro pattern tied on a tube. Just alter the size and colors to suit your local river!

Stuart Foxall's Rubber Legged Intruder
Step 1: Start by securing your liner tube to your outer tube with thread wraps followed by a dab of glue. Then, wrap your thread to the tying in point of the rear section.
Stuart Foxall's Rubber Legged Intruder
Step 2: Wrap in a dubbing ball of Ice Dub. Once again, being synthetic this material’s color really stands out well.
Stuart Foxall's Rubber Legged Intruder
Step 3: Tie in 6 or 7 lengths of rubber legs on the top half of the tube. You may find it easier to tie just one half of the tube at a time so the legs will spread evenly around the tube. This will help the fly swim better in the water. I’ve used grizzly flutter legs as they wriggle really well.
Stuart Foxall's Rubber Legged Intruder
Step 4: Tie in the other half of the tail section on the bottom half of the tube. You can see that I’ve cut the rubber legs to all different lengths. This adds more movement to the fly and looks more natural.
Stuart Foxall's Rubber Legged Intruder
Step 5: Cover up the tying in point with some more Ice Dub. I’ve then super glued and whip finished the tying thread off. The outer tube is already a luminous color which we will use as the body.
Stuart Foxall's Rubber Legged Intruder
Step 6: Tie in at the head. Continue to tie in on the outer tube as this is where the tube is at it’s strongest. Once again, add a dubbing ball of Ice Dub.
Stuart Foxall's Rubber Legged Intruder
Step 7: Tie some arctic fox in backwards.
Stuart Foxall's Rubber Legged Intruder
Step 8: Bend the fox backwards and wrap down with the tying thread. This is far quicker than putting it in a dubbing loop.

Note: See this step in detailed form by checking out our post on tying intruders without a dubbing loop.

Stuart Foxall's Rubber Legged Intruder
Step 9: Tie in some strips of pearl mirage Flashabou and wrap a few turns of marabou.
Stuart Foxall's Rubber Legged Intruder
Step 10: Tie in more rubber legs using the same method as before. Once again, it may be easier to tie in two separate halves to distribute legs evenly around the tube. Trim legs to different lengths.
Stuart Foxall's Rubber Legged Intruder
Step 11: Cover the ugly tying in point with some schlappen hackle.
Stuart Foxall's Rubber Legged Intruder
Step 12: Dab some super glue onto the tube liner and push the cone on.
Stuart Foxall's Rubber Legged Intruder
Step 13: Burr the tube liner with a lighter to hold the cone in place to finish the fly. Notice how the rubber legs are all different lengths. This really helps with the motion of the fly and makes it look far more natural in the water.

More From Stuart

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. hello, just wondering what size shank you would tie this on instead of the tube? cheers from BC

  2. Hey Brenden,
    Great question! The blanket answer would be it depends on the profile you’re looking for and species you might be pursuing. For example, when tied with Chinook in mind the shank used might be as long as 75 mm, where as the pattern used for steelhead would likely be tied on a much smaller shank.

    However, we’ll contact Stu and make sure to get his take on shank sizes as well. Stay tuned!

  3. Hello Brenden.
    Kyle is correct buddy. Depending on water conditions or species being fished for I would tie them on shanks from 25mm to 75mm long and everything inbetween. Personally I would think adding a loop and a hook at the back of the shank would extend the length of the fly quite a bit. So I’d say that 25mm and 50mm would be best lengths to go with.
    I hope that helps.
    Cheers Stu.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.