Bodkin / Patterns

Dalmatian Trude

Dry Fly · Trout · Advanced · 1 version

Tyer Recipe

  • Hook 1X-long dry fly, 14 (14-18)
  • Thread White 70 denier

Materials

  • Lady Amherst pheasant tippets White with black bars (Small bunch for tail)
  • Peacock herl Natural peacock herl (One strand, used for both body segments)
  • Floss (or heavier white thread) White floss (For the center band)
  • Calf tail White calf body hair (Thinned clump for trude wing)
  • Rooster hackle Grizzly hackle (One dry-fly quality feather)

How to tie it

  1. Lay a white thread base to the start of the bend and tie in a short tail of Lady Amherst tippets, leaving one black bar showing.
  2. Tie in peacock herl at the bend and take five or six wraps to build a small herl butt over the rear fifth of the body; catch it off but keep the herl strand.
  3. Tie in white floss and wrap a band ahead of the herl, at least two layers, slightly narrower than the herl butt, since white goes translucent when wet.
  4. Re-tie the same peacock herl ahead of the band and wrap the front section of the body forward, stopping with the front third of the shank clear.
  5. Prepare a clump of white calf tail: cut twice what you need, pull out the short hairs by hand (calf won't stack), and thin it to a manageable bunch.
  6. Measure the wing to reach the bend or halfway down the tail and tie it in trude-style, flat over the body, with a pinch wrap and tight securing turns; add a wrap around just the hair to keep it sitting on top.
  7. Trim the wing butts close to the eye and bind them down smoothly.
  8. Tie in the grizzly hackle at the wing tie-in, wrap a full dry-fly collar ahead of the wing, and tie off.
  9. Build a small head, whip finish, and cement.

Tying videos

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