Fly of the Month 09.19
The Trude Group
By simply substituting hair for feathers, the Trude is one of the earlier hair wing flies and the first to be tied in the down-wing style. The trude was created in fun by Carter H. Harrison in 1903 while a guest on the A. S. Trude Ranch, Idaho.
Red fibers taken from a rug for a body, a clump of hair from a red spaniel dog for the down-wing and a squirrel tail used for hackle were all tied together on an over-sized muskie hook and then presented to Mr. Trude, owner of the Ranch. The fly looked so appealing that a few more serious samples were made up. A red yarn body wrapped with silver tinsel, a squirrel tail hair tied long enough for the dark band to show as the down-wing and a red rooster hackle on a dry fly hook became the original recipe for the Trude. The fly was tested – catching all the fish the party could carry away from the Snake River, near the Ranch. Thus, the fly was named the Trude.
Alfred S. Trude lived in Chicago and died in 1933. He was a criminal lawyer and prosecutor of Patrick Prendergast who was hanged for the slaying of the elder Carter H. Harrison in 1893. His son successfully used the Trude on Lake Superior for brook trout and smallmouth bass and said,
The Royal Trude is a refinement of the original Trude using a peacock herl body divided by a band of red floss, a tail using golden pheasant tippet, a down-wing of Snowshoe foot hairs and a brown hackle.
The Wright’s Royal Trude is the same with white calf hairs for the down-wing.
The Lime Trude is the same with chartreuse floss.
The Coachman Trude and its more famous variant the Royal Trude are extraordinarily effective rough water attractor dry flies, especially on rivers and streams that have large populations of caddis and stoneflies. They can be fished many other ways, however. The effectiveness of the Trude derives from the wide range of visual signals created by light interacting with its translucent tail, white wing, and iridescent peacock herl body, features which create the impression of life even when the fly doesn't look like anything in particular to our eyes.
Coachman Trude Pattern
Hook: standard or 1X dry fly
Size: 8,10,12,14,16,18
Thread: dark brown or black, 6/0-8/0
Tail: golden pheasant tippets
Body: peacock herl. For the Royal Trude, add a central band of scarlet floss
Wing: white calf tail
Hackle: Royal Coachman brown
While "Trude" has become a generic term signifying almost any dry fly with a down-wing, and many materials have replaced the Coachman's tail, body, and hackle, the Coachman Trude has always been a productive fly pattern, even when other versions look more like the insects that are present.
Trude Group:
Trude
Royal Trude
Wright’s Royal Trude
Lime Trude
Coachman Trude
Fly of the Month 09.19
Royal Trude Recipe
Hook : Firehole 809 size 8,10,12,14
Thread : Black Uni 8/0 or equivalent
Body : Peacock herl with red floss
Hackle : Rooster dry, Coachman brown
Tail : Golden Pheasant crest
Directions :
Tom Adams and Alen Baker
References:
Smedley, Harold Hinsdill. Fly Patterns and Their Origins, 1944
The Trude Group
By simply substituting hair for feathers, the Trude is one of the earlier hair wing flies and the first to be tied in the down-wing style. The trude was created in fun by Carter H. Harrison in 1903 while a guest on the A. S. Trude Ranch, Idaho.
Red fibers taken from a rug for a body, a clump of hair from a red spaniel dog for the down-wing and a squirrel tail used for hackle were all tied together on an over-sized muskie hook and then presented to Mr. Trude, owner of the Ranch. The fly looked so appealing that a few more serious samples were made up. A red yarn body wrapped with silver tinsel, a squirrel tail hair tied long enough for the dark band to show as the down-wing and a red rooster hackle on a dry fly hook became the original recipe for the Trude. The fly was tested – catching all the fish the party could carry away from the Snake River, near the Ranch. Thus, the fly was named the Trude.
Alfred S. Trude lived in Chicago and died in 1933. He was a criminal lawyer and prosecutor of Patrick Prendergast who was hanged for the slaying of the elder Carter H. Harrison in 1893. His son successfully used the Trude on Lake Superior for brook trout and smallmouth bass and said,
The Royal Trude is a refinement of the original Trude using a peacock herl body divided by a band of red floss, a tail using golden pheasant tippet, a down-wing of Snowshoe foot hairs and a brown hackle.
The Wright’s Royal Trude is the same with white calf hairs for the down-wing.
The Lime Trude is the same with chartreuse floss.
The Coachman Trude and its more famous variant the Royal Trude are extraordinarily effective rough water attractor dry flies, especially on rivers and streams that have large populations of caddis and stoneflies. They can be fished many other ways, however. The effectiveness of the Trude derives from the wide range of visual signals created by light interacting with its translucent tail, white wing, and iridescent peacock herl body, features which create the impression of life even when the fly doesn't look like anything in particular to our eyes.
Coachman Trude Pattern
Hook: standard or 1X dry fly
Size: 8,10,12,14,16,18
Thread: dark brown or black, 6/0-8/0
Tail: golden pheasant tippets
Body: peacock herl. For the Royal Trude, add a central band of scarlet floss
Wing: white calf tail
Hackle: Royal Coachman brown
While "Trude" has become a generic term signifying almost any dry fly with a down-wing, and many materials have replaced the Coachman's tail, body, and hackle, the Coachman Trude has always been a productive fly pattern, even when other versions look more like the insects that are present.
Trude Group:
Trude
Royal Trude
Wright’s Royal Trude
Lime Trude
Coachman Trude
Fly of the Month 09.19
Royal Trude Recipe
Hook : Firehole 809 size 8,10,12,14
Thread : Black Uni 8/0 or equivalent
Body : Peacock herl with red floss
Hackle : Rooster dry, Coachman brown
Tail : Golden Pheasant crest
Directions :
- Debarb the hook and mount in the vise. Begin the thread two eyelengths from the eye and wrap to the hook bend in tight, touching turns. Let the bobbin hang.
- Select several Golden Pheasant crest feathers and align their tips before cutting from the stem. Transfer the aligned barbs from your left hand to your right hand. Holding them along the hook shank, make a length determination. Transfer the barbs back to your left hand and secure them on top of the hook shank, about half way down the length of the shank. Once you are pleased with the length and position, begin wrapping the thread in tight, touching turns to above the hook point and where the shank begins the turn. Let the bobbin hang and trim away the waste of the tail.
- Select two peacock herls and align them so the long barbs are on the same side. Tie these in, at the point above the hook barb, and do not use the first half to three quarters of an inch of the herl (it is fragile and could break ). Once secure advance the thread to the half mark and let the bobbin hang. Holding the two herls in hand, begin wraps forward in tight, touching turns. Keep the long barbs extended out and do not trap them. Similar to winding dry fly hackle on a Catskill. Wrap five or six turns, keeping in mind there is floss and another wrap of herl to come. Secure with thread and trim the waste. Let the bobbin hang.
- The floss can be wrapped two ways. One, is to cut a length of four or five inches of floss. Tie in by the tip and begin wrapping using hackle pliers to make the turns. The other method is to put the floss on a bobbin. Secure the tip of the floss with the tying thread and move the black tying thread out of the way. This can be done with a bobbin hanger or simply, put a whip finish in the black and cut away. Either way, make tight, touching turns of floss to the one third mark away from the eye. Repeat the process once or twice depending on how thick you want the red band to be. With the bobbin hanging with floss, tie in the black and secure the tag end of the floss. Trim the waste and make two or three turns of black thread to tidy it up.
- Repeat the process with the peacock herl to complete the thorax and let the bobbin hang.
- Select a clump of white calf body hair, pinch the tips with your left thumb and index finger and place in hair stacker by tips in first. Stack tips down and even the tips. Remove from the stacker and keeping the tips aligned, tie in on top of the hook shank with a soft wrap and then several turns to secure. The length should be slightly longer than the hook shank, but not a long as the tail. Trim away the waste using an angled cut, this will help with a taper to the eye. Cover the calf with thread wraps, but not to excess. Let the bobbin hang at the point rearmost from the eye.
- Select a hackle with the barbs measured to the hook size on a hackle gauge. Cut the feather where the barbs become mostly uniform in width and strip away about a quarter inch of barbs from the stem. Hold the stripped end against the hook shank at a 45 degree angle and tie in. Once secure, advance the thread to two eye lengths from the eye itself and let the bobbin hang.
- Make tight and touching turns of hackle to the thread. Secure with whip finishes and form a nice thread head. Trim away the thread and you are done.
Tom Adams and Alen Baker
References:
Smedley, Harold Hinsdill. Fly Patterns and Their Origins, 1944