Don's Fly Tying - The Coho Intruder

Ah, late September had quickly rolled around again for me and I promised a bit of continued wiring help on my son Allen's new areage near the Cowichan River estuary on Vancouver Island. All work with no play is not my forte so I also planned to drive up to Campbell River to visit my friends Jim and Jane Hilchey. As Jane happily volunteered to look after my Lab Tessie, we headed out to their famous river for a couple of hours of fly casting on my part for salmon and Jim as an observer. I was using a blue bodied intruder fly and could not keep the numerous pink salmon off, releasing more than a dozen! I did hit two coho though, the first was a hatchery fish that I beached and the second, a larger fish lost after a good tussle! My self devised fly which I call the Coho Intruder seemed to work very well that day so it is worth a look for this month's fly tying article! !

Below is yours truly with a nice Campbell River hatchery Coho.

[Author with a nice Campbell River Coho salmon!]

Materials

Hook--Size 1/0 to 2/0
Tail--None
Body--Blue pearl diamond braid
Rib--None
Head--Medium red bead
Hackle--Grizzly
Hook Thread--65 lb green braided casting line
Thread--Thin monofilament

Instructions

Start by cutting off the round end of a size 2 hook and then use a wet stone or file to dull any sharp edges. Then slip a medium red bead through to the eye of the shank just cut. By simply half hitching the trailing hook to the front shank, the hook can pull free if a strong fish is hooked. Therefore, I use red Sally Hanson's Hard as Nails glue to secure the 65 lb braided line that holds the trailing hook to the front shank. I cut the braided line just long enough to loop through the trailing hook before attaching the line to the front shank as far as the bead. As well, I burn the two ends of the 65 lb braided line to create small but hard rounded ends which are half hitched tight to the front bead. This, plus the glue will help to keep the trailing hook from slipping!

After the glue dries, secure the blue diamond braid to the front hook shank, followed by a few turns of short grizzly hackle. The hackle creates a bit of movement when in the water. Tie off as firmly as you can and you have created a fly that does catch Campbell River Coho!

Editor's note: Our website, Tourcanada.com, is presently up for sale and may not exist after January 2025. If you want to save any Fly Tying articles, now is the time to do it!

My latest book, "Fly Tying, Proven flies for the Pacific Northwest", published by Hancock House Publishers, (www.hancockhouse.com), is now available at;
Fly Tying, Proven flies for the Pacific Northwest
This book covers my favourite chironomid, wet, dry and salmon/steelhead patterns. Clear instructions are included on how to tie these flies with minimum equipment using a hand half hitch throughout the fly construction.

Do you want to see the previous fly tying articles?

Monthly Fly Tying Articles from November 1996

Your comments are welcome at " dhaaheim at telus dot net"