Hares ear (nymph tutorial)

[Ian]

Materials

Hares mask
Partridge feathers
Rust brown thread





We will be tying using a size 12 kamasan B175 hook which is a heavy grade hook and therefore there’s no need for us to weight the nymph,but of course it can be weighted if one chooses. We are not using gold rib wire either.
Tying this nymph “should” be very easy to do,but it’s important to get the shape/proportions right,and this can sometimes be hard to achieve.Get it right though,and the hares ear nymph is the ultimate killer,so with that said,let’s get tying.

Starting off with the thread,catch it in at the eye of the hook and work it down with touching turns to within a couple of turns of the bend,before adding half a dozen partridge feather fibres to form the tail.
We can now run the thread back and forth along the hook shank to form that typical cone shape of a nymph,before finishing back at the tail where we will begin the dubbing.



The dubbing we will be using for the first layer of the body comes from either the very top of the hares mask,or from the cheek. These are much softer fibres that can be dubbed onto the thread easily with dampened fingers,with no need to use wax.
Catch the dubbing in at the tail and work it up to a couple of millimetres from the eye,and then continue back down the body to just past half way,keeping the dubbing thin and tight as you go.





Time to add the thorax cover. This can be done with pheasant tail fibres,but today we are using natural hare,taking the long hairs from near the top of the mask.



The first thing is to make sure we cut the thorax cover fibres long enough. These fibres fold forward to form the thorax cover,as well as forming legs,so they need to be long enough.
Tie the fibres in and make sure the hair ends are facing forward. The fibres should be slightly longer than the tail and well beyond the eye of the hook.



Now we can form the thorax. To do this we are going to use the very coarse hair from the nose of the mask and now would be a wise time to add wax to the thread to help with dubbing.
Work the dubbing very loosely onto the thread and wind over the thorax cover fibres,leaving enough room for the head.
Now we have to separate the legs and pull them to either side before pulling the thorax cover over and tying in.





All that’s left for us to do is to form a big head,whip finish and tidy the look of the nymph.






Ian

[Catfish.017]

I used to use these Czech Nymph Style for Sea Trout when the river was at Summer low, after dark when the fish had been in the pools for some time and quite ‘stale’ the method frequently caught me a few fish when more conventional ways failed. It was good for the smaller shoal fish (herling) too.

[Watermole+]

This is indeed a very good fish catching fly but I am wondering why you have omitted the gold rib as per illustrated example, which to me is a very important part, since when wound in the opposite direction to the dubbed lower body, it both locks in the said dubbing and also creates the impression of segmentation.

The streams that I fished were quite fast flowing and the addition of weight is almost essential as your fly was only fishing for seconds. I used to thread up a 2mm tungsten bead to form the basis of a thorax first which helped no end to get the fly down to depth as quickly as possible.

You can also use some excellent substitute materials instead of that from the hare….
Many today-self included-are not too comfortable with that and use alternatives…Just a personal thing..

Great tutorial Ian.

wm+

[Nigel Rainton]

I use rabbit fur and various wires. I also put turns of lead wire on the hook to form the shape of the thorax.

[Penninelad]

I can supply both brown and mountain hare pelt to TFF members free of charge on the basis they make a small donation to the TFF.

[Iasgair]

Ian, I think that is one of the nicest, if not the nicest looking hare's ear nymph. I don't know anyone here in the US who puts legs on this pattern and I think it adds to the fly in a very positive way. I'm going to start doing that myself from now on.

Well done my friend, well done.

[Iasgair]

I use rabbit fur and various wires. I also put turns of lead wire on the hook to form the shape of the thorax.

Those look splendid Nigel. What brand are the hooks; they look very nice with this pattern.

[Mr B]

Very nice,
I'm looking forward to a bit of fly tying this winter.
The above is something I can have a crack at without loosing sleep.
Yes, very nice hooks in the last photo..
Be interested in the make and model.
I am by no means an expert fly fisherman/ angler but with just a very few flys you can have a great day. (And I have)
The Killer bug and the one above.
Mr B

[Nigel Rainton]

"Those look splendid Nigel. What brand are the hooks; they look very nice with this pattern."

They are Tiemco 103bl, I get them from Glasgow Angling. I only use these hooks, they are suitable for nymphs and dry flies. They are very sharp and I have had trout to 6lb and big carp on them.

[Ian]

This is indeed a very good fish catching fly but I am wondering why you have omitted the gold rib as per illustrated example, which to me is a very important part, since when wound in the opposite direction to the dubbed lower body, it both locks in the said dubbing and also creates the impression of segmentation.

The streams that I fished were quite fast flowing and the addition of weight is almost essential as your fly was only fishing for seconds. I used to thread up a 2mm tungsten bead to form the basis of a thorax first which helped no end to get the fly down to depth as quickly as possible.

You can also use some excellent substitute materials instead of that from the hare….
Many today-self included-are not too comfortable with that and use alternatives…Just a personal thing..

Great tutorial Ian.

wm+

My mistake watermole.the illustrated example is a photo I have edited to show the different parts of a nymph for anyone who doesn’t know,but is interested. My apologies for that.

The way we tie flies is nothing more than personal preference,I just offer up my preference for anyone who wants to try tying them.
I rarely add wire to any of my flies watermole. I don’t need to add it to my hares ear nymphs because I tie them good enough that the body outlasts the weakest points,which are the tail and legs. Sometimes if I plan on the down and across method,then I will add gold wire for weight,to help stop the nymph skimming across the surface in fast water, and nymphs can be fished down and across just like a wet fly.