Hares Ear Nymph Patterns

[TenFish]

Hi Everyone

Just wondered if anyone has any "killing" hares ear patterns for stillwater's that they wouldn't mind sharing on the forum.

This is the one fly that I have to admit that I don't have any real faith in!

I look in my fly box & my few hares ear patterns look cr4p!

Some excellent flies & tyers on here ..... over to you peeps!

[Old Jock]

Here is one of the patterns I use at Hillend. I do these with gold or silver beads also.

[hootsmun]

This is a good pattern weighted of unweighted..

[flytire]

[Englander]

Hi

My hares ear on the right is a proven trusted killer all winter indeed all year it slaughters rainbows and taken a few browns too. Fished slow fig 8 long leader floating line...."deadly"

Simple buzzer hook , "copper bead" (personally i found it better than gold on this pattern ) gold wire rid, simple dubbed body, hen pheasnt for the tail or hare idf you like doesnt seem to matter....... would leave hiome without this pattern i have complete and utter "faith" in it ,size 14/12 seem best , reckon due to curved hook it is mistaken for a shrimp or hog louse ..... enjoy

[corky]

All though not for stillwater I never gave the GRHE much of a swim on rivers until this season and I have had 3 good sessions on it and other nymphs since the season opened,so much so that I have tied my own for my next trip.I did lose a few of the weighted nymphs but well worth having in the box ,a rough pic below(with rough flies some might say ) but it will be a pattern I will have a lot of confidence in going forward.

Corky

[Chris Reeves]

When I first started fishing some 30 years ago we always used a long shank leaded hares ear as a point fly. I do not have any in the box any more as I only fish to International rules but the dressing was

Silk ............Red
Hook.......... 2x L/S 10
Underbody ..10 turns of lead wire
Tail............ Red Game hackles
Body ......... Hares ear (or Rabbit with guard hairs)
Rib ........... Gold Tinsel
Wing case .. Pheasant tail
Thorax ...... Hares ear dubbed very loosely
Head Hackle. Red Game cock

We fished it as part of a team of three with a Soldier Palmer and Silver Invicta and for at least 2 seasons this was our go to set up.

Cheers

[shpeil]

My favourite is just like Englander's but with a pearly rib and the body going a bit further round the hook. Fished slow it seems to work well. The places I fish, with that on the point of a 12 foot leader, it keeps it deep but off the bottom. Happily, I struggle to cast anything longer than a 12 foot leader so it suits me!

I also like a GRHE hare's ear (tied on a standard shank hook) but tied with pearly flashback all the way along and using olive dyed hare's ear. Had most success fishing that "washing line" style when fish have been moving.

Mind you, I was reading "Match the Hatch" this morning over my cup of coffee, eyes half closed, and it suggests that the main beasties a GRHE would tend be taken for on a stillwater are claret nymphs, and possibly pond/lake olive nymphs. To imitate those, I'd tend to go with a PT nymph anyway, and I've always had more success with a PT nymph than an GRHE. If I'm nymphing, I usually have some version of both on the leader at the same time, figuring that the fish don't always care about what, if anything, happens to be hatching at the time. GRHE certainly has a fishy look about it to me.

Sorry - can't post photos.

[arkle]

A few years ago I was asked by some friends to so some variations of the hares ear nymph. The first one was dressed with amber dyed hares ear & had a flat copper tinsel rib, the guy found it very successful & took the heaviest brown from a northern big fish water shortly after getting it.

The other one was dressed with olive green h/e & had a narrow pearl flashback & a woven pearl thorax, this one took some beating during damsel-fly hatches, & I lost a fish of 8lbs+ on it.

A real killer is Leon Guthrie's "Broon Troot" nymph, slightly more challenging to tie, but it's probably one of the deadliest patterns around. As well as river & lake trout, it's taken sea-trout & salmon. Don't even consider using it on less than a 7lbs. point.

[dogbloke]

There are loads of variations on the GRHE theme. I tie mine on 12s and 14s, always three turns of gold wire at the back-end before the body starts - and no tail.

Once the fur is picked out I taper mine back with scissors to leave a slim body and thicker thorax. The finished fly is really scruffy (never mastered a whip finish) but it still works well for me most of the season (rivers only).

Whilst on the subject of flies which work, I remember an article in T and S a good few years ago describing a technique for painting the shank of a hook white before dressing the fly on it. It gave the fly some luminosity I believe.

Anyone remember or still use this technique?
Does it work?