Sal Velinus

Once again I will state that I don't like a bushy abdomen. I wrap my thorax tight too, with no guard hairs in it, and then pluck it out from the bottom and trim like you would a scud. It gives better movement and might even suggest gills. Besides, most mayfly nymphs hold their legs along side their body when they swim. On bigger hares ears I use drawn grouse, partiridge, quail, duck, etc. legs. Doesn't take but a minute longer and it looks good. But whatever, any hare's ear catches fish.

Remember it is illegal to have bird of prey feathers, songbirds, etc, even if they are roadkill. That said, many of those species makes great flies, and I doubt anyone would give two shakes if you had some eagle, wolf, or grizzly bear flies in your box.

I hope Mr. Hughes doesn't see this or you might get sued for copywright infringement. You wouldn't steal his wallet would you? :j_k:

Very nice. How long do you spend tying one of those?

hares ear midge pupa parachute mayfly bh PT wooley bugger

Try google. There are dozens of laces to get a tanned coyote.

Yes I think most on this website tinker with materials, patterns, etc. to create their "own" patterns. But in reality it is difficult to come up with things that others haven't already done, they might not have written about it or promoted them, but others have done it. I for one don't name "my" flies, even though most are at least a little different than theway most people tie them. The idea of protecting your patterns is simple to figure out; if you don't want people to steal them from you, don't advertise them. Otherwise you could copywrite a name of a fly, but not a pattern. The simple fact is that many of the standard patterns catch fish just as well or better than many of the new-age creations. Often people tie flies that don't work any better, and might even work less well, than traditional patterns just because they want to feel like they have something a little bit different from everyone else (which is fine, that's often what I do). People might think that these flies work better than standard patterns but often they probably don't. Many times as the tier gets better, the fisherman gets better without noticing, which creates the illusion that the flies work better than the standard generic bugs he fished when he was starting out. Rambling there, but in short, do whatever makes you happy with your flies, that's what I do. Learn the qualities of different materials so that when you want a fly to have a certain characteristic you know what to use. Don't think that just because a famous tier used a certain material that it is the best material for the job, and don't beleive that his flies are any more effective than yours just because of his name. Finally, be aware that it has to be a pretty horrible fly to not eventually fool something as stupid as a fish.

Check out AK's Fly Box. It shows how to tie them. He uses hen hackle but the method is the same. Like Ashbourn said, just tie 'em on the top of the hook, fold them to the spent position, and figure 8 around them until they are like you want them. It is pretty easy after you tie a couple.

Very pretty. But how well does it float with that body?

I'm quite aware of the differences. I don't like guard hairs in my dubbing, and even remove the few that do end up in the dubbing bags. I don't like the "messy" look of plucked guard hair legs and usually use feathers for legs, or pluck out and trim underfur legs on very small nymphs/larvae. To each their own. Just thought a different perspective on hare's ear dubbing might give someone some new ideas. It's amazing how often my ideas are at odds with the rest of this forum. I kind of like it, makes me feel as though I'm doing something a little different than other good tiers!

mayflies, dragonflies, damselflies, and stoneflies have incomplete metamorphosis, egg..nymph...adult caddis and midges have complete metamorphosis, egg...larva..pupa...adult rock on.

Best shop in west yellowstone; nice people and lots of bins to rummage through. However, I would not buy any hides, skins, or hackle online b/c you can't be picky about tips, color, hackle length, etc.

Nice ties! Biot bodies are what i use on small midge patterns and I use turkey, PT, or other bird wing/tail barbs for larger flies (just like a PT body). By the way, technically speaking midges and caddis don't have "nymphal" stages. They have larval and pupal stages. Not that it matters or that you should care, but some people will call you out on it.

I would suggest using pre made hare's ear dubbing (I like Hareline Dubbin). It's a lot more convienent that a mask, comes in any color you want, and is cheap. Use the mask for tailing, or just use barbs off a partridge or grouse feather. I bought a couple hare's masks about 15 years ago, used them for a couple flies, then realized it wasn't worth the trouble.

Yeah it's a great book with great instruction and superb photography. Some of the flies are really pretty, but some not so much so. He's way into synthetics and flash, which is okay, but not my style. He definitely has created a series of bugs that are unique and probably catch fish.