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Jul 01 2017

‘Ed Ward Style’ Intruders with Stuart Foxall

Ed Ward style hackle bodied intruder tying instructions
Sparse materials, huge profile. Photos: Stuart Foxall.

We’re in the heat of our king salmon season at Alaska West, which means we’re tying on a lot of intruder-style flies these days. Why? Because by its very nature, the intruder was designed to incorporate minimal materials (for ease of casting) while still presenting a large profile in the water (something that tends to drive king salmon crazy).

Today, our pal Stuart Foxall pays homage to former Alaska West head guide, Ed Ward, with step by step tying instructions on how to tie a classic style intruder that crushes just as hard today as when it was first developed.

‘Ed Ward Style’ Hackle Bodied Intruder – Tying Instructions

The ongoing development of skagit lines and intruder-style flies has undoubtedly opened up more possibilities for us to catch more king salmon on the swung fly. Although many have been credited with this development, it would be fair to say that the man most associated with this development is former Alaska West head, Ed Ward.

Below is an intruder that is tied in Ed’s ‘style, using minimal materials for maximum effect. The hackled body helps with this effect.

I’ve tied it here on a metal tube although originally shanks were used. I feel that tubes are easier to tie on, fish better in most applications and are more fish friendly in the long run. Plus, as we mentioned before, the development of this style of fishing is still ongoing!

Ed Ward style hackle bodied intruder tying instructions
Step 1: Fix some silicone/junction tubing at the back of the tube to hold your hook when rigging into an aluminum tube. If you want more weight, consider using a copper tube.
Ed Ward style hackle bodied intruder tying instructions
Step 2: Advance the thread to the front of the tube and add dumbbell eyes using figure of eight wraps of thread and super glue to secure.
Ed Ward style hackle bodied intruder tying instructions
Step 3: Wrap on a dubbing ball of Ice Dub at the rear of the fly.
Ed Ward style hackle bodied intruder tying instructions
Step 4: Tie in two small bunches of rhea or ostrich (this is barred ostrich) on both sides of the tube to create ‘angel wings.’ I’ve also added a few strands of mirage tinsel.
Ed Ward style hackle bodied intruder tying instructions
Step 5: Tie in some silver wire, followed by a short fibered grizzly hackle, followed by a flat body braid.
Ed Ward style hackle bodied intruder tying instructions
Step 6: Wrap the body braid along the body. I like to put a dab of superglue for durability underneath the braid.
Ed Ward style hackle bodied intruder tying instructions
Step 7: Palmer the hackle along the body to the head.
Ed Ward style hackle bodied intruder tying instructions
Step 8: Counter wrap the wire to protect the palmered hackle. This ‘fuzzy’ hackle helps break up the profile of your fly making it look buggier.
Ed Ward style hackle bodied intruder tying instructions
Step 9: Wrap in another dubbing ball of Ice Dub.
Ed Ward style hackle bodied intruder tying instructions
Step 10: Create a dubbing loop with your hair of choice (I’ve used arctic fox here) and strands of the ostrich. I don’t want the ostrich fibers to be too long as this will interfere with the movement of the tail fibers.
Ed Ward style hackle bodied intruder tying instructions
Step 11: Wrap your dubbing loop around the tube to create some ‘shoulders.’
Ed Ward style hackle bodied intruder tying instructions
Step 12: Add a few fibers of holographic flash about the length of the collar.
Ed Ward style hackle bodied intruder tying instructions
Step 13: Tie in more strands of mirage flash in the wing area and a guinea fowl feather for the head hackle.
Ed Ward style hackle bodied intruder tying instructions
Step 14: Wrap the guinea fowl and tie off. Being a stiff feather this helps promote those shoulders.
Ed Ward style hackle bodied intruder tying instructions
Step 15: Tie in a pair of grizzly feathers as wings. The collar should help ‘pop’ your wings in the air a little. This also aids movement to the fly. Tie off and varnish the head of the fly well. This will help protect your fly when fishing in rocky areas.

More Fly Tying Step by Steps

  • Rubber Legged Intruder
  • Jerry French’s Summer Sculpin
  • Stu’s Red Shrimp Intruder

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Art Strauss says

    February 14, 2019 at 12:05 am

    Buggier is an anomalous term when referring to a large profile baitfish-like pattern – mixed alien species overlap??

Trackbacks

  1. Meet Fly Fishing Legend Stuart Foxall – Trout Country Fishing Guides says:
    May 1, 2019 at 5:10 pm

    […] landed large fish but it looked like he was going to the last guy to the dance floor. I tied him an intruder with lots of flash but hardly any bulky materials so he could cast it out a bit easier for his last […]

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