Bodkin / Patterns

Dave Hughes' All-Fur Hare's Ear

Nymph · Wet Fly · Trout · Intermediate · 2 versions

Savage Flies dressing

  • Hook standard wet or 1x heavy, 12-16
  • Thread Orange

Materials

  • Tail Hare's ear (guard hairs)
  • Body Hare's ear dubbing (underfur with a few guard hairs)
  • Hackle Squirrel body fur (in split thread or a dubbing loop)

How to tie it

  1. Lay a thread base and snip a small tuft of Hare's ear guard hairs from just below the ear, above the eye socket. Catch it in as a tail about one hook gap long and bury the butts; the fuzzy body hides any lumps.
  2. Take the thread to the rear of the body and wax it well. Snip a clump of Hare's ear dubbing from the cheek, pull out most of the guard hairs, roll it in your palm, and dub a thin noodle, wrapping it forward loosely to a couple of eye-lengths behind the eye.
  3. Rough the body up with your fingers rather than a dubbing brush, picking fibers out for a fuzzy silhouette, and snip any wild ones. Wrap the thread back a little to make room for the collar.
  4. Clamp about half an inch of Squirrel body fur from a zonker strip in a dubbing loop clip, pinched close to the hide, and snip it free.
  5. Let the bobbin spin counterclockwise about ten turns until the thread flattens, then split it down the middle with a bodkin or thread splitter; pull out a little more thread and wax the split strands.
  6. Lay the clipped Squirrel body fur between the split strands, let the thread grab it, center the fibers, and spread the clump out to about double its width before spinning.
  7. Spin the bobbin clockwise 20 to 30 revolutions until the fur locks into a tight brush that will not slip.
  8. Wrap the fur brush forward as the collar, pulling the fibers back a little further with each turn, to just behind the eye.
  9. Take a few extra wraps, whip finish, check the eye is clear for tippet, and add a drop of head cement. Brush the collar out further if you want it fuzzier.

Other versions

1 more in the app: Tyer Recipe.

Tying videos

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