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.
This is just the simplest imitation of a snow flake caddis laying on the surface of the water. The shape is right and it floats well.
Stoneflies thrive in the rubble of cold well oxygenated rivers & streams. They are an available food source throughout the season and fish may feed on them to the exclusion of all other food sources particularly during hatches. The nymphs crawl along the bottom and exit the water at the stream or river edge where they hatch into stoneflies.
The combination of materials and the structure of the tie provide a fly that floats well and has a good buggy appearance. I don’t tie them as representations of any particular Dun or Spinner (imago) stage of any specific insect but I do try to either select appropriate colored materials to match various terrestrials that may find themselves on a trout’s menu or to add a hot spot or to to solicit an inquiring strike.
Boobies are a fantastic bass fly when fished on the surface but occasionally they hang so low in the water they get a bit hard for me to see. To overcome that when seeing the fly is necessary I added a back of 2mm closed cell foam – works like a dream. This is undoubtedly my favorite bass fly.
I have found this variation of Ray’s beetle to be a good representation for a range of these big bugs. It can be used as a general prospecting fly or to “match the hatch”. It lands with a loud plop and floats hook down. I generally fish it on a 2 meter 10lb straight mono tippet. You need fairly heavy tippet to, turn the fly over, pull the fly it out of vegetation when you miscast, and to control bass that are intent in making cover once hooked.
As the name implies this fly is a representation of that stage in the emergence when the shuck is still attached but the wing is open. With both of these elements intact the fly is obvious to both those fish that are taking just below and above the surface of the water. A good fishing tip for this fly is to hold the trailing shuck and body between your fingers when applying floatant so that when the fly is fished the trailing shuck and body still sink into or below the film. You can even add sink to the shuck to make sure it sinks.
By varying the materials used, the colours and size I have accounted for trout, bream, flathead, mangrove jack and even barramundi on wiggle minnows. The recipe I have set out below is just one version of this very adaptable fly and I would encourage you to individualize the fly to your own requirements.
Whilst not tied to imitate any particular insect this down wing style of fly can be tied with your favorite materials and in your favorite colours to imitate a range of insects. It is a good prospecting fly when nothing appears to be happening. In larger sizes it can be twitched or fished dead drift to imitate a hopper, cicada or other terrestrial insect that has found itself in the water or in smaller sizes can be danced across the surface to imitate a caddis fly.
The number of fly boxes you carry is obviously one of personal choice. One difficulty you may encounter when you are setting up your fly boxes is which flies you should include, and how many flies you should carry in your fly box or boxes. The last thing you want to be doing is standing on the bank of a river madly pulling flies out to find a fly you know is there . . .somewhere, but it isn’t where you expected to find it or you fly box or boxes are so crowded with flies that the one you are desperately looking for is hidden away . . . somewhere.
