50 Shades Of Hare's Ear: #50

#48    Hare's Ear Teal Hackle

Notes:

(1)  Water fowl hackle offers excellent movement when tied long.  Combine this with the silky swaying of an after shank feather called filoplume and hare's ear you're bound to have a dynamite pattern.
(2)  I used several variations of this nameless pattern for over 35-years with great success.  It is mainly a lake pattern for British Columbia, but has found some success in the deeper pools of Washington's Cascade Mountain Range rivers chasing bull trout. 
(3)   The original version calls for a very thin tail of marabou with the remaining portion of the feather wrapped to the midway point of hook.  The forward body is rabbit spun in a dubbing loop so all the guard hairs point rearward.  Either mallard of teal  tied long to the midway point of the tail finishes the fly.  The whole idea behind the pattern came from trying to find hackle stronger than pheasant rump for the infamous Carey Special.
(4)   The rear body is formed just like the Hare's Ear/Snowshoe Rabbit Emerger and Hare's Ear Soft Hackle.   This time I replaced the tinsels with Glitter Thread doubled.
(4)  The forward portion of the body (May also be a thorax) is filoplume- the aftershank feather from the  pheasant rump.  To see a filoplume feather and one method for tying it in check out the Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear Filoplume Prince.
(5)  There are a whole host of color possibilities with this pattern.  Natural is "light's out," but olive, brown and black (in order) are great colors to fish your favorite lake!

Materials

Hook:   Any 3XL nymph hook.  Sizes 6- 14  (Pictured is a Firehole 839, size 12.)

Thread:  6/0 or 8/0.  Tan UTC 70 pictured finished by marking the last few inches with brown indelible ink.
Tail:  Teal dyed brown (Nature's Spirit)

Body:  Hare's ear.  Color of choice.  Raked directly from the ear.  Twisted with gold wire and doubled Glitter Thread, rust.  Wound to approximately the 60-percent mark.   Forward portion of the body is pheasant rump filoplume spun in the split thread method.
Hackle:  Teal dyed brown.  Even the tips, cut away from the stem and form evenly around the shank.  Secure, trim away butt ends, form small head and whip finish.

50 Shades Of Hare's Ear: #48

#48    Hare's Ear/Snowshoe Rabbit Emerger

Notes:

(1)   Another of of my favorite patterns that I've played around with over the years and consider it a great guide fly.  This particular pattern has a very unique body of gold wire,  Mirage Krystal Flash (Midge) (Opal) and a minute amount of hare's ear twisted together to form the body.
(2)  Various colors of hare's ear and Krystal Flash can be experimented with.  It's hard to beat natural hare's ear with either pearl Krystal or the Mirage (Opal).  Olive hare's ear works wonders for my local hatch of Little Weedy Western Water Sedge in small sizes (16-20).  Another "must" is a body of insect green to imitate rhyachophila caddis.
(2)   To achieve the proper "flash" and proportions first wax the thread.   Second, start applying very minute amounts of dubbing approximately 1.5-inches down the thread from the hook in a taper.  After the dubbing has been applied bring the thread back to the shank and form a dubbing loop.  Bring Krystal Flash and wire together with the dubbing and twist tightly.   This will give you a tight segmented effect and allow the Krystal Flash and wire to show through the hare's ear.  The first 2 or 3 wraps should be strictly the Krystal Flash and wire before the hare's ear commences up the shank.
(3)  Once the body is wrapped select a grouse or partridge feather and make 3-wraps with the fibers doubled.   Gather approximately 75-percent of the fibers and bunch them on top of the shank and secure.  This will provide a wonderful underwing.  The remaining fibers stay underneath the shank for legs.  In smaller sizes the fibers will have to be removed from the stem of the feather for correct proportions.
(4)  A hefty bunch of  cream snowshoe rabbit is secured on top of the shank for the over wing.  Not only does the showshoe rabbit provide a visible aid to the angler (and fish), but provides wonderful floatation, too.  Snowshoe rabbit comes in various colors, but cream has proven to be "the color."  If you can find fluorescent orange (very tough to find) it is an awesome secondary wing,  Otherwise you'll need to dye it
(5)  The thorax/collar is applied in the split thread method and wound to the eye.  Brush to a very buggy effect and to the rear.
(6)   This emerger will sit in or just under the surface film.  The white wing will provide you the location of the fly.   I recommend applying Albolene to the snowshoe rabbit and collar for extra floatation.
(7)  This is a perfect pattern for shorter upstream casts casts in pocket water or shallow runs.  I also like to cast quarter downstream and work the fly just under the surface.

Materials

Hook:   Firehole Emerger 316, sizes 10-18 (Size 12 pictured)

Thread:  6/0 or 8/0.  Tan UTCH 70 pictured.  The head was finished by applying brown indelible ink to the thread.

Body:  Hare's ear.  Color of choice.  Raked directly from the ear.
Underwing/Legs:  Grouse or partridge (brown).

Wing:  Underfur from a snowshoe rabbit, cream
Thorax/Collar:  Hare's ear, natural, Nature's Spirit Emergence dubbing (hare's ear) and Mercer's Buggy Nymph dubbing (dark hare's ear) (Brownish in color.) mixed thoroughly.  Spun in the split thread method.

Flies Of Yesteryear: Burlap

I've been very fortunate to hold a few originals of this next fly in my hands.  A quick disclaimer... Although it cannot be positively confirmed it is strongly believed these flies were tied on Mustad 7970 hooks due to the perfect alignment of size, length and wire diameter.  However, there is a possibility of the hooks being manufactured Edgar Sealey, too.

I am going to kill three (not two) birds with one stone and highlight a pattern that is not only effective for resident river trout, but the mighty anadromous steelhead.  The finale is displaying the Burlap on a vintage Mustad 7970 5X Strong hook as it was tied over 75-years ago when Arnold Arana first introduced the pattern to the Klamath River in Northern California.  The Burlap remains popular on the Klamath and it's tributaries however, the fly is use more to pursue the aggressive half-pounder (returning 1-year old steelhead) than the larger adult steelhead on modern hooks such as the TMC 200 style.

Tying notes:

(1)  The Mustad 7970 is still available for those that desire to fish a floating line and chase steelhead. There are few patterns that are specifically tied on this hook for the aforementioned purpose. However, due to the hook's wire diameter, it is not recommended for smaller fish if you practice catch and release.

(2)  Quite a few of the recent pattern books call for fine deer hair in the tail and tied short.  The original Burlap utilizes light brown bucktail tied longer.  I haven't seen this dyed color tail commercially available, but the center portion of an ordinary white tail will suffice. This was more than likely the same procedure years ago for choosing the color

(3)  The Burlap is quite a resident trout pattern, too!  It is believed the trout mistake the fly for a caddis pupa or emerger.

(4)  This pattern fishes better the longer it is fished.  The shaggier, the better.  Scoring the body of the fly prior to fishing is strongly recommended.

Materials:

Hook:  Any 2XL or 3Xl nymph hook. (Mustad 7970, size 8 pictured)

Thread:  6/0 or 8/0. black

Tail:  Bucktail, Light brown at least one body length or slightly longer.

Body:  Burlap, natural color (tan) scored for a shaggy appearance

Collar:  1 or 2 turns of soft grizzly hen hackle tied long.