José “Pepefly” Borzi has an interesting take on the Intruder here with an all orange design. Most interesting, to me at least, is the use of a whole rhea feather for the hackle. It will really give the fly some interesting movement in the water, but I do see a couple problems using the feather this way. For one, the feathers are on the expensive side, so to ensure the fly remains durable, I would reinforce the hackled rhea with a reverse wrapped wire. Secondly, when the fly gets wet, the rhea will collapse somewhat onto itself. To remedy that, I think a thick dubbed body might help the rhea stand out more, after all, the whole point of the style is to create the illusion of a big fly with as little material as possible. Perhaps the different target species may play a roll in the fly construction as well. Even with that said, I do like the fly and love seeing the flies from South America.
