Fly Tying the Opal Trude – Caddis Dry Fly Pattern

Created by Dennis Potter of the River House Fly Company in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the Opal Trude is one of the flies in his Opal Mirage series. This fly pattern might best be used as a caddis imitation but the mirage tinsel body gives it that extra bit of attraction.

Hook: #10-16 dry
Thread: Red
Body: Opal Mirage tinsel under brown palmered hackle
Wing: White or light gray EP fibers (or para-post sub)
Hackle: Brown dry fly

This fly pattern can be found in:
David Klausmeyer’s “Favorite Flies,” 2020, amzn.to/3oeSNMa

Savage Flies is a project with the mission of encouraging and teaching fly tying to as many people as possible. The channel is named after one of my western Maryland homewaters, the Savage River. I’ve been uploading at least three new videos a week (usually Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday).

Thanks for stopping by. Please let me know in the comments if you have any tying tips you would like to share or if you have any patterns you would like to see tied here.