Guide's Choice Hare's Ear Nymph Pattern & Tying Instructions
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Guide's Choice Hare's Ear Nymph
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This tasty little nugget is called the Guide's Choice Hare's Ear. It's your basic gold-ribbed hare's ear nymph, that's been totally tricked out with all the options.
For a hook, a Dai-Riki #730, here, a size 14, works well. Begin by mashing the barb and placing a 7/64ths inch gold bead onto the hook and then securing it in your vise.
For some added weight and to stabilize the bead, take 8 or so wraps of .015 lead-free wire around the hook shank.
Pick up a small drop of Zap-a-Gap with your bodkin and place in on the hook shank between the wraps and the bead. Slide the wraps forward and hold them there for a second to set the Zap-a-Gap.
You can use a dull colored thread but I'm going to use a 70 Denier fluorescent fire orange to form a hot spot collar on the finished fly.
Start your thread on the hook shank and take wraps rearward before breaking or snipping off the tag. You can then take wraps forward to behind the bead to further stabilize and coat the weight.
For the tail of the fly, I like to use the long fluffy hair from the top of a hare's mask. While holding on to the tips, snip a small clump free and then strip out the under-fur. I prefer to keep the tail on a Hare's Ear short, about the same length as the hook gap. Secure the clump to the hook shank and take tight wraps rearward to the start of the bend. Lift the butt ends up and snip them off close with your tying scissors.
For the rib, brassie-sized gold Ultra wire is great but by all means use tinsel if that's how you roll. Secure the wire to the near side of the hook with tight wraps of tying thread all the way up to the weight and then back to about the hook point.
For the thorax of the fly, light natural hare's mask dubbing works really well. Pull a small clump from the pack and, dubbing only small amounts at a time, form a tapered dubbing noodle on your tying thread. Wrap the dubbing noodle to form a nicely tapered abdomen.
Get hold of the gold wire and make open spiral wraps to segment and secure the dubbing. At the front end of the abdomen, secure the wire with a few wraps of tying thread and then helicopter the wire to break it off close.
Now we start adding options. A shiny wing case always looks good. So snip a strand of flashabou free from the hank and secure one end to the top of the hook shank, just behind the bead. Take wraps rearward to form a wing case approximately 1/3rd a hook shank in length. I find it helpful to pull the wing case forward to see if the length looks right. Too short a wing case on this pattern looks a bit odd, so experiment until it looks right.
For the abdomen, strung peacock herl, as opposed to hare's ear dubbing, just adds a little something extra to the pattern. Pull 4 or 5 herls from the pack by their tips and then snip about an inch and a half of those tips off square. Tie in the peacock behind the bead and take wraps rearward to what will be the back end of the wing case. Leave the thread in that location as you begin taking adjacent wraps with the peacock herl. The strands will want to separate but the thread will block them from doing so. It's a subtle technique but one that works well. When you reach the bead, secure the herl with a couple tight turns of tying thread. Once that's done, snip the excess herl off close.
Get hold of the flashabou and pull it forward over top of the bead and take wraps of tying thread to hold it down and form the wing case. Make sure the wing case ends up directly on top of the hook. To insure the flashabou doesn't slip free, fold it rearward and take a couple wraps of thread to keep it folded back. You can then reach in with your tying scissors and cut the flashabou off close. The leftover tag will be out of the way and barely visible. Now's a really good time to pick out the hare's ear abdomen as it will be difficult to do later.
A Hungarian Partridge soft hackle collar adds life and movement to the pattern. Pull a single feather with appropriately sized fibers free from the stem. While holding the stem, strip the fuzzies off up to where the stem begins to narrow. The fibers should extend just a little ways past the hook bend. With the shiny side of the feather facing you, get hold of the very tip and pull the fibers downward like so. Carefully snip the feather tip off, leaving just a small little triangle to aid with tie-in. Secure the feather with wraps of tying thread using that little triangle as an anchor. The feather should curve downward like this. Now get hold of the stem with hackle pliers and raise it to vertical. Gently stroke the fibers rearward to fold them around the stem. With that done, begin wrapping the collar. As you can see, this feather had just barely enough fibers to make one complete wrap but, oftentimes, it's all that's needed. Secure the stem behind the bead with wraps of tying thread and then snip the bare stem off close.
Do a 6 or 7 turn whip finish to cover the stem and form a hot spot collar. You can snip or cut your tying thread free. This pattern all but requires a good drop of head cement on the exposed thread wraps for durability.
I think the only things missing from this Hare's Ear model are cup holders and a moon roof.
For a hook, a Dai-Riki #730, here, a size 14, works well. Begin by mashing the barb and placing a 7/64ths inch gold bead onto the hook and then securing it in your vise.
For some added weight and to stabilize the bead, take 8 or so wraps of .015 lead-free wire around the hook shank.
Pick up a small drop of Zap-a-Gap with your bodkin and place in on the hook shank between the wraps and the bead. Slide the wraps forward and hold them there for a second to set the Zap-a-Gap.
You can use a dull colored thread but I'm going to use a 70 Denier fluorescent fire orange to form a hot spot collar on the finished fly.
Start your thread on the hook shank and take wraps rearward before breaking or snipping off the tag. You can then take wraps forward to behind the bead to further stabilize and coat the weight.
For the tail of the fly, I like to use the long fluffy hair from the top of a hare's mask. While holding on to the tips, snip a small clump free and then strip out the under-fur. I prefer to keep the tail on a Hare's Ear short, about the same length as the hook gap. Secure the clump to the hook shank and take tight wraps rearward to the start of the bend. Lift the butt ends up and snip them off close with your tying scissors.
For the rib, brassie-sized gold Ultra wire is great but by all means use tinsel if that's how you roll. Secure the wire to the near side of the hook with tight wraps of tying thread all the way up to the weight and then back to about the hook point.
For the thorax of the fly, light natural hare's mask dubbing works really well. Pull a small clump from the pack and, dubbing only small amounts at a time, form a tapered dubbing noodle on your tying thread. Wrap the dubbing noodle to form a nicely tapered abdomen.
Get hold of the gold wire and make open spiral wraps to segment and secure the dubbing. At the front end of the abdomen, secure the wire with a few wraps of tying thread and then helicopter the wire to break it off close.
Now we start adding options. A shiny wing case always looks good. So snip a strand of flashabou free from the hank and secure one end to the top of the hook shank, just behind the bead. Take wraps rearward to form a wing case approximately 1/3rd a hook shank in length. I find it helpful to pull the wing case forward to see if the length looks right. Too short a wing case on this pattern looks a bit odd, so experiment until it looks right.
For the abdomen, strung peacock herl, as opposed to hare's ear dubbing, just adds a little something extra to the pattern. Pull 4 or 5 herls from the pack by their tips and then snip about an inch and a half of those tips off square. Tie in the peacock behind the bead and take wraps rearward to what will be the back end of the wing case. Leave the thread in that location as you begin taking adjacent wraps with the peacock herl. The strands will want to separate but the thread will block them from doing so. It's a subtle technique but one that works well. When you reach the bead, secure the herl with a couple tight turns of tying thread. Once that's done, snip the excess herl off close.
Get hold of the flashabou and pull it forward over top of the bead and take wraps of tying thread to hold it down and form the wing case. Make sure the wing case ends up directly on top of the hook. To insure the flashabou doesn't slip free, fold it rearward and take a couple wraps of thread to keep it folded back. You can then reach in with your tying scissors and cut the flashabou off close. The leftover tag will be out of the way and barely visible. Now's a really good time to pick out the hare's ear abdomen as it will be difficult to do later.
A Hungarian Partridge soft hackle collar adds life and movement to the pattern. Pull a single feather with appropriately sized fibers free from the stem. While holding the stem, strip the fuzzies off up to where the stem begins to narrow. The fibers should extend just a little ways past the hook bend. With the shiny side of the feather facing you, get hold of the very tip and pull the fibers downward like so. Carefully snip the feather tip off, leaving just a small little triangle to aid with tie-in. Secure the feather with wraps of tying thread using that little triangle as an anchor. The feather should curve downward like this. Now get hold of the stem with hackle pliers and raise it to vertical. Gently stroke the fibers rearward to fold them around the stem. With that done, begin wrapping the collar. As you can see, this feather had just barely enough fibers to make one complete wrap but, oftentimes, it's all that's needed. Secure the stem behind the bead with wraps of tying thread and then snip the bare stem off close.
Do a 6 or 7 turn whip finish to cover the stem and form a hot spot collar. You can snip or cut your tying thread free. This pattern all but requires a good drop of head cement on the exposed thread wraps for durability.
I think the only things missing from this Hare's Ear model are cup holders and a moon roof.
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