Hare?s ear nymphs

[Traditionalist]

I had occasion to answer a few questions on using a hares mask and ears, and I thought it might be of interest here as well.

There really is no such thing as a Hare?s ear nymph.  One can make dozens of nymphs from various parts of the hare fur. The traditional "standard"  "Hare?s ear" nymph was made using the hare?s poll, which is the sandy red coloured hair at the base of the ears, on the "forehead".  This was used for the abdomen, and then darker fur was used for the thorax. This was usually taken from between the eyes on the mask.

Like many things, how you dress it depends on what you want to imitate with it.

You can scratch about on the ears for half an age, but there is not really much useful hair or fur on most of them.  I have been working on an article about hare?s masks now for about two years, on and off, but it is a fairly major task due to the complexity of the subject.

On the ear alone there are at least six quite distinct types and colours of hair, and there are even more on the mask itself.

The GRHE ( Gold Ribbed Hare?s Ear ) of chalk stream fame, was an emerger pattern, and not a nymph.

You can dress a generic version by simply using the poll hair, and a darker  thorax made from the  hair between the eyes. But if you want a more specific version for a certain mayfly type, say Baetis nymphs, then you need to know a bit more about the insects you are trying to represent, and also about the materials you are going to use.

many people rely almost entirely on generic nymph patterns for mayflies and indeed other nymphs, and this works quite well, but more specific patterns tend to work better.

If you wish a generic nymph, then the standard as described above, will do. 

There are thousands of variations extant.  I can post one of mine which I use for a few mayfly nymphs,  agile darters like Baetis rhodani, the Large Dark Olive  ;

http://www.first-nature.com/insects/ephemeroptera/baetis_rhodani.htm

Nymph shown here;
http://fdf.flies.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/baetisrhodaninymph.jpg

Here are a few more images;
http://images.google.com/images?q=baetis%20%20nymph&sourceid=groowe&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

Or the BWO Blue winged olive;

http://www.ifly4trout.com/hatches_insects/real_baetis.htm

But you really need to know which insects you have where you are fishing, and tailor your artificial accordingly. Hare fur is an excellent material for this.

Most of the commercial patterns, and many others, are just abortions, which sometimes work. Often with bead heads etc as well. I don?t really like any of them.

As I wrote, if you like I will dress one of mine now, and post a photo. Will take a couple of minutes.

EDIT:

OK., I just bashed one up quickly for you. 
Hook is a size 12 1X long straight hook.

Thread: Yellow Danvilles 6/0

Tail. A very sparse bunch of mottled guard hair.

Abdomen: Light buff soft fur from the bottom right or left hand side of the mask.

Rib: Round gold tinsel, or (varnished! ) copper wire.

Wing case. Guard hair from the top back of the mask, either very dark brown or black. Tied in so that the wing case is dark.

Thorax: dark fur from the upper middle part of the ear, or the "middle cut" from the same guard hair as the tail.

Head: Brown marker. Varnished

The body should have a pronounced taper, and only a very small amount of dubbing is required.

One may also make the thorax longer and fatter than this, depending on the specific nymph one is imitating;



One may also add a couple of turns of lead wire under the thorax if desired.

These nymphs are anything from 6 to about 15 mm, so I usually go for about 12 mm overall, unless i have caught a couple of naturals and know the right size. (Just before the hatch the nymphs are of course mature and larger! )

These nymphs have to be dressed on longer shank hooks, as they don?t look right at all on short hooks.

here is one with the fatter longer thorax, and I have rotated it between shots to show the various salient points.  These nymphs are more or less indestructible, as they are made of tough hair;







The full potential of these nymphs is only really seen when wet in water. The yellowish olive silk shines through,as does the ribbing.  these nymphs are quick and easy to dress, and extremely effective. As I already wrote, they are also far more robust than flies dressed with pheasant tail, and similar materials.  It should be noted that the tails on many of these nymphs are as long as the bodies.

One may imitate a completely different species simply by using a different colour of thread. Orange, Brown etc. Some mature nymphs are also very much darker than their immature cousins.


I have caught many many fish on these and similar nymphs.

A somewhat better photo after a light brushing, and with better lighting;



TL
MC

[Fishtales]

Do you remember a link you put up somewhere else showing the Hares mask? I think it was this one <http://www.flyfield.com/hare2.htm> but it doesn't work anymore and I can't find another link for 'hare' in my bookmarks folder It was a drawing showing the various places that fur was taken from for flies, if I remember correctly

[Wildfisher]

anyone know of supplier of whole hare pelts?  can't find one anywhere 

[Traditionalist]

Do you remember a link you put up somewhere else showing the Hares mask? I think it was this one <http://www.flyfield.com/hare2.htm> but it doesn't work anymore and I can't find another link for 'hare' in my bookmarks folder It was a drawing showing the various places that fur was taken from for flies, if I remember correctly

Yes I remember it, it was from Davy Wotton, but it disappeared ages ago.  I am working on such an article myself, with photos etc, and a bit more comprehensive.  Takes time though. 

TL
Mc

[Traditionalist]

Some more info on hare fur. Still not finished, as I am dressing flies and doing other things right now, but I will eventually finish it with photo. flies etc. In the meantime, it may be of some use to those wishing to use hare?s mask etc.

Your mask should look something like this;



As you can see there is a large range of colours here. The textures of these hairs also vary depending on where you take them from.

This is the INSIDE of an ear   and the OUTSIDE of the same ear




The ears etc are on square graph paper as I am working on a system for describing hair types and locations, but I am not finished yet.


OK. The mask has a number of more or less defined areas with specific types and colours of hair.

On either side of the nose,  there are areas of reddish brown hair  with very little underfur. Moving up the side of the mask, this changes to a light buff colour. As one moves further up, the hair tips become darker with a well defined dark brown to black band, and blue grey underfur.

Between the eyes and on the forehead is hair with light yellowish tips and a dark base.

At the base and between the ears is the "poll" this is a light reddish brown with pale tips, with underfur of the same colour.

At the base of the ears you have soft fur with light, often almost white fur with a varying length of dark base.  Moving up the ear itself you have short dark hair with light tips. This is the hare recommended for the hare?s ear nymph. You can remove this by pinching it off with your thumb and finger nail. The whole side of the ear is covered with this hair.

On the leading edge of the ear, both sides, you have very light coloured guard hair. One side has much stiffer and longer hair than the other. You can use the long side for wings, tails etc, and the short side for light guard dubbing.

There are three other distinct areas on the outside of the ear. At the base of the ear you have short red/brown fur. Above this short white/buff fur, and then you have the tip of the ear which is very short almost black fur.

Moving to the inside of the ear. We have already covered the leading edges.We have much the same schem as on the outside, but there is much less hair and it is shorter. Otherwise similar. Again the easiest way to remove this hair is by pinching it out with your finger and thumb.

So, that very roughly covers it. I have been working on an article about this for quite some time, but I don?t know when I will finish it.

You can blend any of these furs together in pinches, or you can use each type of hair alone, or you can separate the guard hair and the underfur and use it separately.

There are many possible blend combinations. I have covered about twenty of these "standard" blends so far, but of course they are practically infinite.

Many people simply shave the mask and chuck the result in a blender, But this is a terrible waste of possibilities and the resulting blend, though quite excellent for some nymphs and wet flies, contains a very large percentage of underfur, and is thus less suitable for quite a few things, including dry flies.

You can dress dozens of completely different flies using a mask and ears. And you can also control the properties of those flies.

I hope that helped at least a bit. When I have the article finished I will post it of course.

For guard hair wings and the like, body fur is better simply because it is a lot longer and easier to handle. even short body guard hair is at least an inch long, which is quite ample for even the largest flies.

The guard hair from various locations also differs in colour according to location, and much of it also differs in colour along its own length. There may be three or more clearly defined colours or shades of colour on a single guard hair, If you want a specific colour, then just cut the colours off that you require, and put the others aside for something else.

The finished article also has a cross reference to the flies which may be dressed with the various hair, and why it is used. But I am still working on that, and the project is on another disk on another machine, so I can?t give you any of it yet.

If I have left anything out, not made something clear, or you have a question, fire away.

Selecting hair.  This applies to any hair, but is demonstrated here on hare body fur.  The same applies to areas of the mask and ears. The simplest, quickest, method of obtaining first class dubbing in the "hare" shade, is to cut the tips off the hair.  This is the part of the hair which waterproofs and otherwise protects the animal. But this is wasteful, and also severely limits the blend shades and types one may obtain. It will still be mottled and spiky, but predominantly the same colour as the guard hair tips. It will not soak up any water at all, and floats like a cork. It is also springy and spiky.

Many patterns however call for darker hair.Most especially the "Gold Ribbed Hare?s ear". The dubbing usually commercially supplied for this, and called "hare?s ear dubbing" is shaved and blended body hair which is quite unsuitable for that pattern. It is too light in colour because all the underfur is in the mix, it soaks up water, and it is often far too long in the staple. ( The staple is the average length of the longest hairs in the mix).

Indeed, as a rule, there is no "hare?s ear" in the commercial dubbing at all, the mask with ears is always sold separately, because that is mainly  what people buy if they don?t buy a packet or box of the other stuff, which is usually mixed with plastic of unknown antecedents, which for all I know might be ground up old carpets!

Buying "ready mixed"  "hare?s ear dubbing" is a total waste of money, as there is no way of knowing what is in it, or what to use it for. If you can?t get a piece of pelt, then buy antron. At least you know that will work. It may not be as effective, you can?t tie excellent dry flies with it, and  you can not alter it?s texture, but apart from that it is probably all right! =)

This is a bunch of hare body fur from about the middle of the back of the animal from a winter pelt. This is an old jack hare. ( a male).

The bunch was selected by grasping a bunch with the fingers, like this, and cutting it off with scissors, as close to the pelt as possible;


This is the resulting bunch;


To use this sensibly for various things, it must be separated into it?s component parts. Here is that bunch reduced to its components by cutting the tips off, cutting the middle part off, ( which is very dark, almost black) and leaving the underfur with the guard hair roots;



Each of these bunches contains a certain amount of guard hair of course, as the guard hair goes right down to the skin!  The underfur merely grows around it. The "tip" bunch is of course more or less pure guard hair.


One may also separate the guard hairs by separating the underfur and the guard hair from the bunch. This is done by simply holding the tips in the fingers, of one hand and pulling the underfur from the bunch with the fingers of the other hand. This results in a bunch of long guard hairs like this, ( this guard hair is going to be used as a hackle on a dry fly), and the underfur on the right;



It should be noted that there is a lot more underfur than guard hair!

One might also simply cut this guard hair into smaller pieces and use it as dubbing. This will give a darker dubbing with a greyish tint, because the guard hair itself has these three shades of hair along it?s length.  This dubbing will be spiky, and it will shed water easily.

The underfur may be used, but unless very tightly dubbed, ( and also treated with a floatant) it will soak up water like a sponge.

Many old time dressers merely used the "flax" which is the light yellow/brown/red/black  guard hair tips, and discarded the rest.

I often use the whole length of the guard hair for hackling dry flies, and the "flax" for dubbing the bodies.

One may also mix the flax and the "middle cut"  ( the dark hair), from the guard hair, in whatever proportions required to get the shade one is aiming for. This is then more or less identical to the hair which one obtains by scraping the ears, which have no underfur, just the tips ( very short on the ears) and the "middle cut", which is why the dubbing from the ears is darker. This is also considerably easier than scraping about for little return on mummified ears! =

Other blends are also possible such as the flax with the underfur. This gives an easily dubbed mixture which will go on tight, but still have some nice spiky guard hairs. This will then of course be a much lighter shade. One may also simply use the underfur which takes dye very well ( pantone marker)is very soft, and can be cut into small peices for "touch" dubbing. But this is only useful useful for dry flies in conjunction with a good floatant.

The actual colours and shades involved vary according to where on the animal the fur is selected. This may vary from light grey through yellow to red to chestnut to dark brown or black guard hair tips, and the rest coloured accordingly.  The underfur also varies considerably, but on the back for instance is a more or less uniform light grey colour, almost white in many places

The whole thing also varies with the season when the animal was culled, it?s sex, and it?s state of maturity. Old jack hares give the finest dubbing, and the greatest variety.

There is a great deal more to be said about it, but those are the basics.

In order to select dubbing for a specific function, floating sinking, spiky smooth, or a blend of these,  one has to select and mix the various furs properly, or it wont work. Hardly anybody even knows how to do it, or why anymore, they just buy a plastic box or a polythene packet with a label on it which says "hare?s ear dubbing".

Or does anybody seriously imagine that the suppliers scrape the ears and then discard the rest?  =)

Here is a dry fly ( sunk abdomen emerger) Using guard hair as hackle, and blended guard hair as a thorax. ( The abdomen is stripped peacock quill);


This is a similar fly which has caught a few fish, and originally used greyish underfur as the thorax dubbing. Unfortunately the peacock quill does not stand up well to trout teeth;




This fly uses guard hair for the wings, blended guard hair for the thorax, and blended flax with  light underfur ( the darker fur is removed)for the abdomen;


This combination defines the fly?s function.

Depending on what onee wishes to achieve, one may "touch" dub using a glue stick. If I am dubbing dry flies "normally" I dont?t use anything, wax, glue etc merely clogs everything up, and severely detracts from the appearance and performance of the resulting body. One may also easily dub the guard hair alone (for dry flies) using the split thread technique. It is also possible to dub it normally by twisting it around the thread, but this requires a little practice. One must twist firmly, and the hair "crumples", allowing it to be twisted on to the thread.

Very short guard hair is almost impossible to dub, so on e also has to have the right "staple". One may also mix in a little underfur to "soften" the dubbing, but this must be done very sparingly, as otherwise the fly will be a poor floater.

It is quite difficult to give you a straightforward answer here because how I do it depends on so many factors. It would take me hours to explain them all. This only becomes obvious when one tries to answer such questions! =) What seems simple and obvious to me, is apparently a book with seven seals to others.

Such flies will float without any floatant etc, because the guard hairs naturally shed water. They also catch better because the guard hairs have a shiny appearance.The underfur is dull and "lifeless".

If you use wax or floatant on such flies, it makes them less effective. The same applies to wet flies dressed with such hairs.  With blends, one can strike various balances, and obtain various appearances as desired, but this affects the properties to the extent in which the material is blended.

More of the blends may be used on wet flies and nymphs than on dry flies, because  their propensity for sinking overrides their propensity for floating.

Here are three hare pelts from winter animals, two jacks and a doe;




This is a piece of partially used pelt which shows the make-up of the fur;




It should also be noted that all the above applies to UNTANNED PELTS!  Hare pelts, masks etc are not normally tanned anyway, but rabbit and similar pelts often are. This renders some of the hair less useful.

[thewaterbouys]

 

        Thank you for information .
                                         I never thought about using the guard hairs for dry flies .Normally i would have used deer for the wing,hare guard hairs for Thorax and a mix of Guard hair,Dark hair under guard hair,light hair from cheek or body well mixed together for the shade i want for the body lightly dubbed Then prick out couple of guard hairs on the body.Must tie some dry hare emergers ,they look the part they just say fish to me.I love using deer hair, and hare natural, as the flies look so close to insects.Thanks again for the info on the different parts of the hare for tying flies.   Henry From thewaterbouys :lol: