How to Tie Gold Ribbed Hares Ear

What You’ll Need

Hook

TMC 3761 #12-16

BEAD

Tungsten gold 3/32 or 5/64 (depending on the hook size)

RIB

Fine oval gold tinsel

ABDOMEN

Hare’s ear dubbing or mask dubbing.

THREAD

UNI- thread 6/0 Tan

WINGCASE

Pheasant, mottled turkey quill or flashabou or diamond braid mask

TAIL

Hares mask

THORAX

Hare’s ear dubbing or mask dubbing.

There’s all kinds of ways you can tie this fly. This is the way I like tying it the best. They say it’s all about the material you use and I believe that’s the case when it comes to tying any pattern. I like using the hares mask for the tail, but I think it’s easier with some of the materials they have come out with to make it easier to tie this fly. Hares mask will tie this whole fly if that’s all you have, but since they’ve made dubbing in the packages blended up at the plant I believe that’s better than what we can do on our own. So I guess what I’m trying to say is try tying it with dubbing if you haven’t done so already. There’s a dubbing dispenser box that is called natural fur and it comes with a wide variety of animal blends to tie most of all the traditional patterns with. It’s definitely one you need when traveling.

This fly was designed to match mayflies in the nymph stage. I also believe trout mistake it for several other insects. A lot of people fish this as a scud here on our local tailwaters. You can also add flash for the back instead of mottled quill etc. Sometimes in the sun you can’t go wrong with a bead or something that gives a sparkle to get their attention in the sunshine. I think they can see it from farther away. So sunshine can play a big part in flash flies.

Step 1

Slide the bead on. If you can find this style tungsten bead I would buy all you can. This shape is becoming hard to find. They make a new mold and it’s not as good as this one. If you notice on the bead it has the same shape on both sides. The new ones have a small hole on one side and the back is opened real wide like its resect. Which makes you have to build a bigger thread dam to keep the bead from shifting or slipping back.

Step 2

I don’t show how to cut off the mask, but you want to make sure you cut a clump and hold it together while getting the excess hair out. Hold the tips and pull from the bottom where you made the cut. The stuff you pulled out is what you can use for the dubbing if you don’t have the pre-made already. The tips should all be even if you didn’t let go. Make sure you tie in only what you need. Too much will make the fly look un-proportion. One more thing to mention, try not to tie too far past the bend of the hook or you will force the tail to point down instead of flaring out.

Step 3

Tie in your tinsel. I like to tie mine down the whole length of the hook. That way I know it’s not going anywhere. Also remember you are winding this the opposite direction as you tied in the dubbing. That way it doesn’t cinch into the dubbing to where you can’t see it. This way it will lay on top of the dubbing.

Step 4

One thing to always keep in mind when doing this step is to taper the body from small to big as you go up the fly. So when adding dubbing to your thread make sure you don’t add the same amount. Go easy on the dubbing on the top then add a little more as you dub more on the thread. Your first turn shouldn’t have much. Just enough to hide the thread on the shank then start tapering the body adding more dubbing as you wind up. You can see where I stopped. That’s your reference point. A little past the middle.

Step 5

Wrap the tinsel up going the opposite direction. I do about five turns. Tie it down and cut the excess off.

Step 6

Tie in your mottled quill. Note: One thing you want to do is prep these before hand. You can use a paint brush to do this step. You will need some flex-seal. Brush the feather and let it dry.

Step 7

Tie in some more hares ear dubbing. This time you want it to be bigger than the abdomen. I like to tie mine in with a dubbing loop. It will make it look more buggier. If you tie it the normal way it will lay more flat and that’s fine, but you’ll need to get a bodkin and pick it out.

Note: When tying the dubbing in make sure you don’t tie right up to the bead. You need to leave a little room to tie in the quill. This way when you tie in, it will be cinch down and hidden in the dubbing along with the thread wraps. The key is not to see the thread after tying it off.

Step 8

Now fold the quill over and tie it down.

Step 9

Whip finish the fly.