Most of you know I tie my own flies. Always have, always will. Since I've become obsessed with the pursuit of steelhead on a two-handed rod with a swung fly, naturally I've become obsessed with tying the flies for these fish as well. I first came across intruders patterns at a demo at Sierra Anglers from Greg Nault (who is undoubtedly one of the best tiers I have ever witnessed). Like the progressive of most things in life go, I completely sucked at tying intruders when I first started. Most of those first intruders were sentenced to the razor blade and cut up. I stuck with it and kept my standards high and I believe I now tie some acceptable intruder patterns. That being said, commercially tied intruders just suck. Profile in these flies is paramount and commercial versions are simply not tied in a manner to maintain the profile these flies are intended to have. Not to mention that these commercial versions are tied by some poor girl in east Asia who has probably never even heard of a steelhead. Here's a comparison photo below. My tie is on top and the commercial tie is on bottom.
I've tied these flies now for awhile for a small group of people and have to decided to offer them more publicly. My flies have caught steelhead from British Columbia to the Pacific Northwest.
I believe in quality flies and that has been my premise since day one. I use only quality materials and am constantly searching for ways to produce better flies. I use stainless steel shanks to prevent rust. The connection wire is coated stainless steel to prevent the hook from sagging, fouling, or catching the bottom. I only use Owner Cutting Point hooks. They're not cheap, but in my opinion they are the best. For storage and protection, each one of my intruders ships with a fly tube. These tubes allow the fly to hold its profile and not get smashed by other flies in a box.
For starters, I'm offering a 6-pack with tubes for $50 + shipping. If you're interested, email me at tmgoodwin@sbcglobal.net and we can get you started. These are custom flies, so if you have a certain color scheme you have confidence in, I can tie it. Thanks!
Stay fly,
T
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