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EDUCATION: ONLINE LESSONS:
LESSON 5
The Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear (nymphs and the woolly bugger)
from Skip Morris' book, "Fly Tying Made Clear and Simple, 1992"
There are few flies that rival the Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear in popularity. This scruffy, simple nymph has proven consistently attractive to trout and anglers everywhere, and it can be tied quickly and easily. There are numerous variations, but the pattern listed here is quite standard.
The Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear can be swum from deep to shallow in streams or lakes, or fished dead drift in streams. While it is generally weighted with a few turns of lead under the thorax, unweighted versions are usually best for fishing near the surface.
Here you will have more opportunity to practice dubbing; you will also rib with oval gold tinsel, and create a wing case-both techniques are valuable and used frequently.
GOLD RIBBED HARE'S EAR
Hook: Any heavy wire hook 2X, 1x, or standard length, size 18 to 8
Thread: Black, 6/0 or 8/0
Weight: For hook sizes 14 and larger, No. 2 lead; for sizes 16 and smaller, No.1
Tail: Guard hairs from hare's mask
Rib: Fine oval gold tinsel
Abdomen: Hare's mask
Wing Case: Brown mottled turkey-quill section
Thorax: Hare's mask
Adding The Lead
Smash down the barb on a size-12 heavy wire 1X or 2X long hook and mount it in your vise (the hook shown is a Daiichi model No.1550). Start the thread about 1/16 inch behind the eye and spiral it back to just past the center of the shank.
Wrap No. 2 lead from the center of the shank and stop just short of the 1/16 inch gap behind the eye (this will probably require only three or four turns of lead). Secure the lead under tight thread turns and then spiral the thread back to the bend.
Adding The Lead -- Problems, Solutions, And Suggestions
See "Adding the lead- problems, solutions, and suggestions" for the Green Caddis Larva.
Tying In The Tail
Although I have seen a number of variations, the tails I see most often on the Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear (which is often referred to simply as the "Hare's Ear") are hare's mask guard hairs. This requires that you purchase a hare's mask instead of simply purchasing a bag of pre-blended hare's mask fur-the pre-blended fur is fine for all the dubbing of this fly but not for creating the tails.
Since there are a lot of variations of this pattern, I think it is fine if you choose to substitute hackle fibers, partridge-feather fibers, grouse-feather fibers, pheasant-tail fibers, or anything acceptable in place of the hare's mask-guard hair tail. But if you do have a mask, here is how to use it.
In your left hand, grasp a small tuft of fur somewhere around the center of the mask and cut it loose close to the hide. Reposition this tuft so that you end up gripping it by its tips; hold the tips tightly between the thumb and first finger of your left hand.
Draw out the short fibers by grasping the exposed part of the tuft (the butts) between the thumb and first finger of your right hand and maintaining modest pressure as you pull that hand away; only the "guard hairs," the long, substantial hairs that project beyond the soft underfur, and a bit of underfur remain.
Measure the hairs and note the point at which they are about one half to two thirds the hooks total length, and then tie them in at the bend using the pinch. Lift the butts of the tail fibers and advance the thread to just short of the lead. Bring the butts back down and tie them in using the pinch. Add some tight securing thread turns. Trim the butts of the fibers closely if necessary (the butts of the guard hairs may not reach the lead).
Tying In The Tail -- Problems, Solutions, And Suggestions
- Bear in mind that the natural insect imitated by the Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear has only two or three tails; the hair tail you tie in will have much more than two or three fibers-just avoid the impression of a brush.
- Don't worry about getting all the underfur out of the guard hairs, this is unnecessary and time consuming.
The Light Turn And Tying In The Oval Gold Tinsel
There are two ways to deal with the oval gold tinsel: You can cut off a piece about 3 inches long, or you can simply unravel some from the spool and set the spool on the table to the rear of the fly. The latter helps hold the tinsel out of your way and seems most efficient.
The light-tension thread turn, which I simply refer to as the "light turn," is a handy alternate technique to the pinch and is a bit quicker for tying in stiff materials. To execute the light turn, hold the gold tinsel near its end; if the end is frayed, trim it clean. Hold the end of the gold tinsel down along the shank with its end slightly to your side of the hook and right up against the rear of the lead.
Bring the thread up and over the end of the tinsel-use only light tension on the thread. Draw the bobbin down to close the thread loop; as you do this, the gold tinsel will roll right up on top of the shank-and there is no end to trim. Add a few tight securing thread turns. Hold the tinsel back and slightly above the shank as you spiral the thread down it to the bend; add a few tight turns here too.
The Light Turn And Tying In The Gold Rope -- Problems, Solutions, And Suggestions
- If the gold tinsel keeps slipping out of position, grasp it after the thread loop is in place as though you were finishing a pinch. Eventually you will be able to efficiently perform the light turn without this.
- Don't confuse light tension with no tension or moderate tension - no tension offers no control, whereas even moderate tension will roll the tinsel around the shank ahead of the thread.
- A last reminder: never wrap the thread back farther than the securing wraps for the tail.
Dubbing And Ribbing The Abdomen
The fur used for dubbing a Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear comes from a hare's mask. You can purchase a hare's mask and blend the fur yourself, or you can take the easy route and purchase it pre-blended; as I mentioned before, the only drawback in buying the pre-blended fur is that you will have to substitute another tail for the usual hare's mask-guard hair tail (but this substitution, as previously mentioned, is fine).
If you have a hare's mask, here is how its fur is prepared and blended. Begin by closely snipping the fur from the areas shown in the illustration. Remember to leave a bit of this fur on the hide for making tails. Because the fur from different parts of the mask will vary in character, blending is in order. Here is how to blend by hand: Take a clump of fur, pull it in half, lay one half over the other, pull the resulting clump in half again, and repeat this sequence until you are satisfied that the blending is adequate.
A more thorough method involves a household electric blender Just toss in the fur and some water and blend briefly on low. Once blended, remove all the fur, squeeze it between paper towels, remove it, and allow it to dry. Another answer is the little blenders offered through fly shops specifically for blending furs; they blend without water, making the process neat and quick.
Whether your fur was pre-blended or not, it is time to dub the abdomen. Wax the thread if you wish, and then spin a layer of fur onto it. Dub from the bend up to about the second turn of lead, a bit more than halfway up the shank. Attempt to create a tapered abdomen-fine at the bend and thicker at the thorax area.
If you left the rope on its spool, trim it now, about 3 inches from the fly. Spiral the gold rope forward up the abdomen in five or six turns; the turns, "ribs," may be evenly spaced or may widen slightly as they progress. Tie off the rope at the end of the dubbed abdomen, add a few securing thread turns, and trim the end of the rope deep into your scissor's blades
Dubbing And Ribbing The Abdomen -- Problems, Solutions, And Suggestions
- Make certain that you dub past the center of the shank; this is good insurance that there will be no exposed lead after the next few steps.
- See "dubbing the abdomen" for the Rick's Caddis.
- Although firm tension while wrapping the gold rope is desirable, extreme tension can kick the tail over even if it is well secured. If the tail kicks over without extreme tension, use as much tension as possible and better secure the tail next time.
- While ribbing, watch the angle of the gold rope between the fly and your hand-if the angle is constant, the spacing of the ribs will be constant; also, a steep angle will produce widely spaced ribs, while a slight angle will space them closely. Steadily increasing the steepness of this angle will produce ribs that steadily widen.
Tying In The Turkey Section And Dubbing The Thorax
Cut a section about 3/16 inches wide from a turkey quill feather; cut close to the quill (be warned that the term "quill" may refer to a whole wing or tail feather, the hollow, horny stem of such a feather, or even the individual fibers of a feather. This may seem confusing, but the context usually makes the usage clear).
Roll this section around the top half of the lead; the butts of the section should extend forward no farther than the eye, and the tips of the section should extend rearward. Make a light turn over the section, and then roll the first finger and thumb of your left hand over the section and the thread in a sort of modified pinch; try to spread this pinch out over both sides of the section. Pull the thread tight; then add a few securing turns. Trim the end of the turkey section.
Add dubbing to the thread a bit heavier than usual. Dub heavily from the point where the turkey section is tied in, forward to just behind the eye, but do leave space behind the eye for a thread head.
Tying In The Turkey Section And Dubbing The Thorax -- Problems, Solutions, And Suggestions
- Try to handle the cut turkey section carefully so as to maintain its shape; this will make it easiest to work with.
- When tying in the turkey section, it helps to remember what you are trying to accomplish - to secure the section so that it doesn't bunch but instead rolls around the thorax neatly and flatly.
- There will be a bright side and a dull side to the turkey; if you tie the bright side down, against the thorax, it will show when you complete the last tying steps. Bright side or dull side showing-it's a matter of personal taste.
- Don't hesitate to dub slightly back over the abdomen in order to insure that the thread securing the turkey section is thoroughly covered with dubbing.
- It helps smooth out the drop off at the end of the lead if you add a few extra turns of dubbing at that point.
- For an unweighted Hare's Ear (which is a most useful version), remember to compensate for the missing lead by substantially building up the thorax.
Creating The Wing Case
Pull the turkey section forward over the thorax with your right hand; then work the bobbin (and a turn of thread) over it with your left. Continue to hold the section under tension as you draw the thread tight with your left hand.
Release the section from your right hand, and then switch the bobbin to your right hand without releasing the thread tension; then add a few tight securing turns. Trim the section closely, draw back any wild dubbing with the triangle, build a thread head, and secure it with three half hitches.
To create the impression of legs, tease some fur and guard hairs out from both sides of the thorax with your scissor's tips, a bodkin, or a hat pin. Add head cement to the thread head to complete the Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear.
Creating The Wing Case -- Problems, Solutions, And Suggestions
- For a neat, even wing case, pull the turkey section flatly over the thorax. Holding the turkey between the thumb and first finger with the thumb on top seems to work best.
- At first, you might do best to leave plenty of head space behind the eye, and then trim the turkey section only moderately close; this may result in a large head, but if closely cut turkey fibers slip loose, they cannot be saved. As your skills improve you can work progressively closer.
- If you do want close-cut turkey for a small head, lift the fibers under some tension and then snip close; snip around a few additional times to pare down the turkey stubs.
1. Start the thread, add lead, secure the lead with thread turns, work the thread back to the bend.
2. Snip some fur from a hare's mask for a tail (or use a substitute).
3. Stroke most of the fuzz away leaving mostly guard hair.
4. Measure the tuft of hair against the hook, tie in the tuft at the bend using the pinch, and add securing thread turns. Lift the butts of the tuft, advance the thread, and tie in the butts using the pinch.
5. Tie in the end of the tinsel using the light turn. Lift the tinsel and spiral the thread down it to the bend. Add tight securing thread turns.
6. Dub a tapered abdomen to just past midshank with the fur from a hare's mask.
7. Spiral the tinsel up the abdomen; then secure the tinsel with thread wraps and trim the tinsel's end.
8. Snip a section from a brown mottled turkey quill.
9. Roll the section around the lead, and then tie in the section with a modified pinch. Add several tight securing thread turns.
10. Snip the end of the turkey section; dub the thorax heavily.
11. Draw the turkey section forward flatly and secure it with a turn of thread.
12. After trimming the turkey section, building a thread head, and adding three half hitches, pick out some fibers at the sides of the thorax, and add head cement.
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