The Montana Intruder
Forward by Sam Wike
I’ve known Fred for about 20 years now and we have been fishing the Missouri River for about that long together. At first, many of the long time guides and fly shops on the river would give us a tough time for using two handed rods on the river saying, “Those should only be used for steelhead”. We began just by using steelhead patterns, such as the Hoh Bo Spey, we thought Missouri fish would eat, and they ate them just fine. Fred, over the past 20 years has dialed in a number of patterns for swinging flies for trout and they are really difficult to beat; Trust me I try all the time. However, the Montana Intruder which you are about to read about, and another pattern we will share later called the Bam Bam should be at the top of your priority list.
The Montana Intruder – a trout spey fly tying introduction and tutorial by Fred Telleen
After spending 2 seasons guiding in Alaska, suddenly I was not. In my entire life, I had never spent 12 months of the year in a single place but after the 2014 guide season I decided to call Great Falls, Montana my permanent home. While Great Falls may not be known as a hot spot for fly fishing, it really should be. We are within striking distance of many great waters and the Missouri River flows right through town.
As the winter of 2014 rolled along, I no longer had a need to tie flies for salmon but I still had a need to swing flies for trout. Trout spey has become my passion since I first swung a fly in the Missouri River in 2007. At times, Montana trout get really aggressive toward flashy flies. One of my favorite patterns for Alaska is a critter I call the Flash Bang Intruder. It was only natural to scale it down, change the color scheme and point it toward my local fish.
Scaling the Flash Bang down to just over 3 inches and changing the colors was easy. Gold and copper Flashabou took the place of blue and purple. Chartreuse Laser Dub and pink Polar Chenille gave way to tan and gold. The Montana Intruder was born.
The Montana Intruder found favor with many hungry browns in the spring and proved to be a perfect player on a sink tip but as summer rolled along it began to collect weeds. I needed a version that would cast easily on a scandi set up with a long leader. I also wanted an intruder style fly to fish on micro spey and light single hand rods.
So I scaled the Montana Intruder down further, tweaked the color scheme a bit and the Mini Montana Intruder was born. At approximately 2 inches and featuring a splash of red, the Mini became my favorite as summer rolled into fall and fall became winter. The smaller profile is super easy to throw with spey rods down to a 2 weight. It’s also a perfect package to fish on small streams with a single hand spey cast.
MINI MONTANA INTRUDER RECIPE LIST
Thread: UTC 140 Brown
Hook: 15mm Waddington Shank, Senyo’s Thin Intruder Trailer Wire and a size 6 Octopus Hook
Eyes: 5/32 dumbbell eyes in red
Body: Ice Dub UV Tan
Body: Flashabou Gold, Copper, Red
Body: Diamond Midge Braid Bonefish Tan
Body: Senyo’s Laser Dub Tan and Brown