Black Orange GP Intruder

Black & Orange GP Intruder

Here’s something new for myself. I haven’t tied many intruders but it’s a style I have been wanting to try out for a long time. I like the sparse mobile action many of these flies have and think there’s plenty of room for experiment and innovation. They are also fairly simple to tie and this one is no exception even though it has many steps in it. You could do it a lot simpler with only a little difference to the end result but I enjoyed adding subtle touches to the pattern.

I’m a big fan of Esmond Drury’s General Practitioner salmon fly and especially the version made famous here in Finland by Miki Äikäs which you can find on his site. There’s also a youtube link to a video where Miki ties one of his GP’s. This fly is sort of a tribute to the original but I wanted to tie a fairly dark version of it with only a subtle hint of orange in the key areas. Another big inspiration for this fly is one GP variant I got from Mikael Lindström that has an ever darker color scheme than mine. It’s a beautiful fly and I’m happy to have it in my collection.

Feel free to experiment with this concept and let me know if it hooks you some fish.

Shank: Waddington 45mm
Dubbing: Salar Synthetic Series midnight black and orange in flames, mixed. First a ball of dubbing to lift the hackle and then two equal body sections brushed out well.
Rib: Oval silver tinsel.
Hacles: Ringneck Pheasant rump feathers dyed black and natural brown Pond Heron feathers dyed orange. Three hackles, first in the back then middle and in the front.
Back: Ringneck Pheasant rump feathers dyed black over each hackle. Largest on the back and two feathers in front instead of one. Thin bunch of Black Bear tied in the middle joint before the eyes and back.
Eyes: Golden Pheasant tippet dyed hot orange. Tip cut off to make V-shape and then the feather is lacquered to keep the sides separated. Tied in the middle of the body below the middle pheasant feather.