I’ve followed Joe’s tying for quite some time now and I think he ties excellent Intruders. He is an avid steelhead fly fisher and one of the tyers I was following closely when I was going through my phase of tying Intruders. Keep in mind that Intruders are not only good for steelhead, but for many other species too. Here is Joe’s thoughts on three of his Intruders that he had posted on his Instagram @joe__rutter
These two intruders were about 3.5 inches long. I used baitfish emulator flash and ice dub for a shoulder, then used a composite loop with Amherst and ostrich and a tiny bit of ripple ice fiber for flash with ice dub. Silver pheasant collar , then saddle feather wings and small pseudo eyes.
The rear station had the same materials, minus ostrich in a composite loop. I also included rubber legs in the rear station of the pink one.
Those two Intruders were tied for winter. They were tied a little lighter weighted and interesting to fish of higher flows and swinging closer to the bank when fish were holding closer to the bank.
Especially the bright pink one. I also like pink and blue for glacier silty colored rivers for some reason.
This purple Intruder is only about 2.5 inches long. I put Amherst and Ripple Ice Fiber in a composite loop with a schlappen collar and added a little weight. I added rubber legs in the rear station.
It was tied for low flows. I was going for more of a sparse buggy vibe and always dig purple for low flows.
