Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear Fly Tying - Tied by Charlie Craven

Показать описание

There are some flies that just have an inherent ‘fishiness’ about them. The Gold Rib Hare’s Ear is one of those flies. A non-descript, buggy compilation of fur and feathers, the Hare’s Ear won’t win any beauty contests but is one of those flies that you may never want to be without.

While I know I won’t win any originality awards by demonstrating the Hare’s Ear, its purpose here is twofold.

You may not know it now, but the Hare’s Ear encompasses virtually all the parts of a standard nymph as well as traditional proportions. We will learn to measure and tie in tails, cut and blend dubbing fur, wrap a rib, dub a tapered abdomen, tie in and fold a wingcase, dub a thorax and form a thread head all on this one simple fly.

The kicker to all this is that once you learn these procedures, you’ll have all the skills to tie a huge variety of nymphs. When you really boil them down, there is a whole group of flies that are tied exactly like the Hare’s Ear, simply using different materials, so even if you’re not fond of the Hare’s Ear itself, for your own good, tie a few to become familiar with the techniques and proportions.
In addition to all of these techniques, you’ll learn to tie the legendary Hare’s Ear, which wouldn’t be so bad even if you didn’t learn anything else in the process.

While the Hare’s Ear is not a perfect match for anything, it looks a little like a lot of things. I like to use Hare’s Ears in large sizes (6-12) as a simple stonefly nymph pattern, tied in both light (natural, bleached or dyed gold) and dark (black, brown and olive) color schemes and in smaller sizes to match anything from callibaetis in lakes to green drake nymphs in rivers. I simply alter the color and size to match the insect I have in mind. This flexibility is one of the reasons the Hare’s Ear enjoys such popularity.

I use hen saddle feathers for the tail of this fly rather than the guard hairs from the ears of a hare’s mask for the reasons that they are much easier to work with and make a better-looking tail.

I also use real hare’s mask fur cut from the mask of a real English Hare. Jackrabbit and cottontail won’t cut it here; they’re a whole different critter, as are the commercially packaged dubbings that come labeled as ‘Hares Ear’. Most of this stuff is plain old rabbit fur and doesn’t have the short guard hairs inherent to the dubbing from the mask. The mix of nicely marked guard hairs and soft underfur from the hare’s mask creates a perfectly buggy dubbing that is still easy to apply.

When tying the Hare’s Ear, keep the proportions in mind, as they are the foundation for many other nymphs. Tie some large and some small ones, thin and fat and an array of colors. This fly will teach you a variety of techniques and fill your fly box at the same time.

Fly Tying Recipe:
(Click the links below to purchase the materials from our store)

Hook: TMC 5262 #8-18

Thread: 70 Denier, dark brown

Tail: India Hen Back Fibers

Rib: Fine Gold Wire or Gold Oval Tinsel

Abdomen: Natural Hare’s Mask Dubbing

Wingcase: Mottled Turkey Tail

Thorax: Natural Hare’s Mask Dubbing, Picked Out

Charlie's Fly Box

Рекомендации по теме

Комментарии

Charlie,

You are a thorough teacher. I appreciate how you explain all of the way down to what part of the rabbit to use.

williamblair

I seem to learn the most on the simpler fly patters on your videos. Over the last year or so of watching your stuff, I have noticed that my tying is getting more solid and better proportioned. At 65 years old that is a gift that I look forward to fish every time I hit the water with improved flies! Thanks a ton for sharing.

sonja

Thanks for an awesome tutorial. I've watched this video now about a dozen times over the last six years and it just helps with so many basic and advanced techniques. That's the sexiest hares ear i've ever seen. You da man!!

GeorgeAkemanColoradoLife

Glad you pointed out the old "dull and shiny side" description as being incorrect, Charlie. That always drives me crazy when I read or hear it used.

Masterful video...as always!

jamesvatter

Always a killer fly on the water! Thanks for showing us the proper technique Charlie. 🎣

jdigioia

Glad I found you! Very informative. Thank you

billmoran

Glad to see you putting up vids again man! You are definitely one of my go-tos whenever I’m trying to learn a new pattern!

josephh

Glad to see you posting again for the winter tying season

Sides

You are a wonderful teacher, Charlie! This video and your books have been immensely helpful. Thank you!

beenbyrd

I heard Kelly Galoup talk about you and sought you out. Well worth my time. This was a great demonstration. Thank you!

gregsage

nice not too complicated looks great gotta pick up a hares mask

SirPraiseSun

I’m glad you pointed out that the fish don’t know it’s an “old” pattern. If a hare’s ear variation underneath a parachute adams is a corny setup, someone clearly forgot to tell the trout in my area. Between those two flies and the muddler minnow, all century old patterns, my brother and I took *hundreds* of trout last year. The fish clearly haven’t been spreading the memo…

manifestgtr

Had an epic on-the-fly redfish in the Gulf of New Orleans last week, drove 14 hours straight got home at 4:45am this morning slept until 4pm & your Channel pops up on my recommendations this goes to show you the Lord works in mysterious ways.

markjgaletti