|
 In
my previous article I suggested that
Diawl Bach’s were an essential part of every fly
fisher’s armoury and
here's another equally
important pattern, Hare’s Ears. With a few variants
these should sit with the Diawl Bachs in terms of
importance.
Hares’ Ear
nymphs have been around forever. I don’t know who is
credited with originating the pattern but the crux of
the pattern is the wonderful colour achieved with dubbed
hare’s ear.
I have to
admit that my own hare’s ear dubbing is made from a
hare’s skin rather than a hare’s mask. From a
commercial point of view hare’s masks are expensive,
required in huge numbers, which aren’t readily
available, and produce very few flies.
One hare’s
skin will last most fly tyers several life times. A skin
has plenty of guard hairs to provide the ‘spike’ and
various under-furs to blend with them to make as soft or
‘hairy’ dubbing as you need.
No special
techniques are required. Cut off some guard hair,
followed by whichever colour and texture under-fur you
want and mix with your fingers. Pinch and mix until you
achieve the blend of a colour and texture that you
require.
The
original Hare’s Ear nymph can be fished either as a
single fly on a longish leader in the smaller waters or
as part of a team on the larger reservoirs. A slow
retrieve usually works best. Bead heads and soft hackled
flies are great river flies for grayling. Fish the
emerger on a 10–12ft leader either static or retrieved
with a slow ‘figure of eight’ retrieve to create a small
wake.
 Hare’s
Ear nymph
Hook: Kamasan
B175 or Scorpion comp/heavyweight code 1530 sizes 12–14
Thread: yellow
(colour preference is personal but yellow works best for
me)
Tail: hare’s
guard hairs
Body: hare’s
ear dubbing
Rib: gold,
either fine flat tinsel or No 14 oval tinsel
Wingcase: cock pheasant centre tail fibres
Thorax: hare’s
ear dubbing
Tying
Instructions:
•
Mount your hook in the vice and run your tying thread in
touching turns to a point above the barb.
•
Take a pinch of guard hairs from your hare skin or mask,
remove any underfur and tie in as a tail.
•
Secure the rib under the hook shank and dub the thread
with small amounts of dubbing.
•
Wind the dubbed thread forward to a point approximately
half way up the shank, aiming to produce a nicely
tapered body.
•
Rib with 3-4 turns in an opposite direction to the
dubbed thread and tie off.
•
Tie in the cock pheasant wingcase with the fibres
pointing toward the bend and the tying thread almost to
the eye.
•
Dub the thread again and wind back to where the body
finished and back again towards the eye, leaving
sufficient space to tie in the wingcase.
•
Bring the cock pheasant over the thorax and secure with
a couple of tight turns of thread.
•
Lift the loose end of the cock pheasant and take several
turns in front of the feather hard up against the base.
•
Trim the excess feather and finish off by making a neat
head. The turns in front of the wingcase help lock the
cock pheasant in place.
•
Varnish the head and pick out some longer fibres from
the thorax to represent legs. Use either a dubbing
needle or better still a piece of Velcro.
Some
useful variants:
 Olive
Hare’s Ear Nymph
As above
but with olive dyed hare’s dubbing to replace the
natural hare’s ear. This is best taken from a dyed
hare’s mask.
 Gold
Head Hare’s Ear
Hook:
Kamasan B110 or Scorpion h/weight grub hook code
1165
Bead:
gold, brass or tungsten bead to match
hooks size. 3mm for 10-12, 2mm for 14-16
Tail:
hare’s guard hairs
Thread:
tan or yellow
Body:
hare’s ear dubbing
Rib:
gold, either fine flat tinsel or No 14 oval tinsel
This
pattern can also be tied on ‘straight’ hooks, which are
particularly popular for grayling.
Soft
Hackle Hare’s Ear
As above but with a two
turns of brown partridge behind the bead.
 Hare’s
Ear Emerger
Hook: Kamasan
B100 or Scorpion grub hook
Breathers: small section of ethafoam tied forward
over the eye
Flies
tied by Ian McKenzie - photography by Colin Spicer
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