Royal Trude Tying Instructions |
Materials:
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Notes:
The Trude is a down-wing dry pattern usually tied with a calf tail hair wing and a heavy hackle collar. Originally, the Trude was a streamer fly designed by Carter H. Harrison of Chicago, Illinois, in the summer of 1901 while he was a guest at the A.S. Trude Ranch near Big Springs, Idaho.
The fly proved itself on the Snake River in southwest Idaho. Word spread to other parts of the western Rocky Mountains. Bill Beaty, one of Montana's commercial tiers of the time, added the red goose quill tail. Cliff Wyatt of Santa Monica, California later added his variation to the pattern in the 1950's with his Wyatt's Trude that had an orange chenille body with a sweeping back guinea hackle intending to represent a "wet"stonefly and fished this pattern throughout the Sierra. Pat Barnes designed his Sofa Pillow around the Trude pattern, being fished in West Yellowstone at the time, having a goose quill tail and floss body. Dan Bailey of Livingston Montana came up with his variations of the Trude, now being fished as a dry fly, not a wet fly. They had red, yellow and orange bodies with Adams-styled hackle. Later a lime colored dubbing was added and this fly, the Lime Trude, became one of the most popular variations being the choice for the Jackson Hole One-Fly Contest. The Royal Trude, a variation off the Royal Coachman, was a favorite for Gary Lafontaine who caught over 300 trout each year with this pattern. The Rio Grand King Trude was most likely a variation off the classic wet fly, Rio Grand King, that had a quill wing. Ray Bergman has a colored illustration of the pattern in his book, Trout (1938). | ||
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Mr. Harrison was the mayor of Chicago from 1897-1906 and 1911-1915. The fly was created as a joke using red yarn from a cabin rug for the body and hair from a red spaniel for the wing. The "joke" became an instant success and created great interest in the use of hair for a wing. The fly was adapted to a wet fly dressing by including a tail and switching to Fox Squirrel tail for the wing.
