Hares Ear

HOOK: 5262 or 3761, sizes 8-18 THREAD: Brown or black TAIL: Hares mask guard hairs RIB: Gold mylar tinsel or copper wire ABDOMEN: Blended hares ear; keep it thin WINGCASE: Turkey tail coated with Flexament THORAX: Same as abdomen. After tying, pick out a few hairs so they look like legs

Uses

A traditional and very useful pattern, the Hares Ear can be tied to suggest many different species of nymphs.

Variations

The Hares Ear can be tied weighted or unweighted. A beadhead works well, too. Dark brown is the most productive body color; dark olive and tan can also work well. Feel free to vary the body color to match different species, but be sure to compare the color of wet dubbing to the natural (and wet) insect.

 
Some anglers use peacock herl for the thorax.

 
For a Poxyback Hares Ear, coat the wingcase with epoxy. For an explanation of this style (and the reasons for it) see the Poxyback Green Drake.

 
Winter anglers take note: when tied on a size 18 hook, a Hares Ear with dark brown dubbing and a gold mylar rib is an excellent imitation of some blue-winged olive nymphs. The gold ribbing mimics some abdominal segments which are light colored. Keep the fly sparse.

How to match other aquatic nymphs

How to Fish

In rivers, use the indicator, tight line, rising nymph, or shallow nymph presentations. In lakes, the count-down-and-retrieve or slow retrieve presentations are most useful.