This is the pattern of nymph on which I have caught most fish on over the years, including a P.B. 10lb 8oz rainbow from Avington in 1988 when I was aged 15.
The GRHE described below is really very easy to tie & is ideal for anyone just starting out tying their own flies. It has several techniques which novice tyers will find useful in many other patterns. Efforts at the vice will quickly translate into fish on the bank.

My father was the first UK dresser to publicise this now familiar variation on the Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear, after reading about a large long-shanked version in the America magazine Field and Stream around 1968. He found that a standard length hook & a few other very minor alterations was all that was needed.
Before this dressing, virtually all GRHE tied in the UK were the simple affairs of tail, ribbed tapered hare's ear body & a slightly thicker thorax.
The 'secret' behind this dressing is that the fur body patch is used, as it's much easier to get fibres of different hues & lengths than on the mask or ear.
Maybe it should be known as GRHBFP. On second thoughts, maybe GRHE is better!

The fly below is leaded, but this is purely optional.
Tight lines!

American Gold-Ribbed Hare's Ear


Hook:
10-14
Silk:
Brown or black
Underbody:
Fine lead wire (optional)
Tail:
Hare's body fur guard hairs
Rib:
Gold wire or tinsel
Body:
Hare's body fur
Wing Cases:
Dyed black turkey or goose feather fibre
Thorax:
Hare's body fur



Take the silk from the eye to the start of the bend in touching turns.
Pinch-off around 12-15 guard hairs from a hare's body fur patch & tie in to form a tail. Despite the name of the nymph, don't use the fur from the ear as it's simply too short for our purposes & there isn't much of it!
The tail should be about 2/3 - 3/4 the length of the hook.
Tie the ribbing material in. This can be gold tinsel or wire. If you are using lead in the fly, take the silk 3/4 the way back up to the eye.



Add a drop of varnish to the top, bottom & sides of the shank with a dubbing needle & tie the lead wire in with 3 or 4 tight turns.



Wind it down the shank in touching turns to within about 2mm of where you tied the tail & rib in.



This is so the finished fly will have a nice tapered profile. Pinch off the end of the lead wire & press the end of the last turn into the previous turn so there are no sharp edges.
Lash-down well with the tying silk.
As you can see below, I tend to make a butt of tying thread at each end of the lead, so the step down in width isn't so harsh.



Now wax the silk if it's not pre-waxed & pull out some guard hairs, dark underbody fur & brown underbody fur from the patch in the ratio of 1:2:2. Avoid using much of the white stuff - unless you want a white GRHE of course!
You'll want less guard hair in the body & a bit more for the thorax.
Dub about 2 or 3 inches of this onto the thread (pinching firmly between thumb & index finger & rotating in one direction only) as shown below:





Wind the dubbing rope in touching turns to a fraction over 1/2 way up the shank. Add more fibre if needed, or alternatively pinch some off if you put too much on. If the rope fibres become loose during the process, simply repeat the squeeze/rotate motion with your thumb/index finger to tighten them.
Hare body fibres are a very forgiving dubbing material!





Now rib the body in the opposite direction to that which you wound the dubbing rope, so that the rib doesn't get totally lost in all that fur. You should have 4 or 5 turns of ribbing.
Although it's hard to see the gold wire in the photo below, once wet the fur has a lovely natural translucence & the gold will be easily visible.
Tie the ribbing off well.



Trim the gold wire with rough scissors & take about 20 fibres of dyed black goose shoulder & tie in shiny (bad) side up. You can of course use any feather fibres you like, but the black wing case GRHE has always been my favourite.



Form a slightly shorter but fatter dubbing rope with guard hair/black/brown underbody fibres roughly in the ration 2:1:1.
Wind the rope from where you tied down the wing case fibres to about 1mm behind the eye. The thorax should be fairly bulky & it doesn't have to be too neat for reasons which will soon become apparent...



Pull the feather fibres straight down over the thorax & tie in tightly at the head. To save space, you can double the fibres back on themselves, as below.



Create a neat head, whip finish & varnish.
You can leave the nymph as is, but I think the fish-taking potential of the GRHE is significantly enhanced if you now carefully pick-out some of the fibres from each side of the thorax once the head varnish is dry:

Good man Steve, quite an easy fly for us beginners, I should meybe see how i get on before i say 'easy fly'. I like the way you have posted for us beginners, do post more please, will make it easier for us rather than trawling through all the sbs guides only for us (well me anyhow) to find that i am unable to tie half of them, thanks again

I think another good idea for us beginners would be a list of alternative materials. I have hare's mask, but no body fur. Also I don't have any goose feather.

Is there a table somewhere on the net for a list of alternatives? Each time I buy materials, I discover another "easy" pattern which I don't have the materials for

You wouldn't believe how confused I am getting, and how much help I need !!!

If I were you, I would buy some hare body fur. A patch will only cost you a couple of quid, will likely last at least 2 or 3 seasons & you'll be able to tie one of the most deadly flies ever created.
As for the wing cases, you could use any feather fibre which is a natural (ie brown, grey, olive, black) colour. I just have more confidence in the black on this particular pattern.

I know exactly what you mean, nothing worse than sitting down to tie a fly only to notice you havn't got all the exact materials. I usually make do with something that looks similar, in fact theres not too many sbs on here that i have all the materials for. I didnt have any body fur so i just used a pinch of rabbit fur, didnt have any goose feather either so i just used a couple of strands of my black pheasnt tail, does the same job, fish aren't not going to take the fly just because it isn't the exact dressing . Keep at it

This is a deadly fly for still and running water. I have caught many browns after using floatant on an unweighted version. Tie it in all sizes. I will even stick my neck out and say that if I could only fish one fly, this would be it. I have caught more on this than on the pheasant tail.
You could substitute the tail fibres for ginger cock or hen, brown floss for the wing case.
Nice photos steve, better than line drawings.

I think the original U.S. version used black turkey quill as a thorax cover, however I find melanistic cock pheasant tail far more durable. The rib was flat gold tinsel, but with the scarcity of good metal tinsels these days, it's no wonder people rely on either wire or oval tinsel. The strongest metal tinsel I've used & I've used a lot of it, is good old Veniard's. Not as glaringly bright as some French makers, but it does last more than a couple of fish.

Over the years I've collected quite a few dyed hares masks & they have all fallen to use in this pattern, amber, olive green & chart are very effective indeed. The latter works esp. well with a woven pearl thorax cover for some reason, sort of a mini-flashback perhaps.

I've re-done this SBS with better photos to attempt to do this classic nymph justice.

As mentioned earlier, probably one of the most consistent catchers. I use pheasant tail wing case and ginger hen cape as a tail. first choice most days out.

Great looking fly.