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mistercameron

Hares Ear Dubbing variations advice

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I've been working through some old hand-me-down haretron type dubbing. The package is nearly done, and now that I'm looking through all the various hares ear dubbing variants, I was wondering if anyone has some advice that can help guide my decision... 

I've been thinking of picking up standard hares ear dubbing (Hareline), but it seem a lot of tutorials online also suggest some kind of hares ear + antron blend. Is there any benefit or drawback to the blends? It seem the haretron I have now leans much more on the soft/less spikey side, but supposedly the antron adds some sheen that maybe the fish like?

And to save some time - i'm not super interested in making my own blends using actual hare's mask, BUT you could maybe convince me to take natural hair and add a few whisps of antron dubbing if needed.

 

Thanks so much!

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I rarely buy commercial dubbing blends unless they have some particular needed quality that I cannot duplicate. I encourage you to experiment with your dubbing not to mention save a ton of money.  You can go natural or synthetic or a blend of the two. Have fun and experiment. There is no downside to doing this IMHO.

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100% hare's mask dubbing is hard to "dub" onto a thread.

A grade 1 hare's mask is about $5 and a grade 2 is $3.

https://www.jsflyfishing.com/natural-hares-mask.html

Packaged dubbing is $2.35

https://www.jsflyfishing.com/hareline-hares-ear-plus-dubbing

I've clipped a hare's mask. They smell and clipping the hair down to the skin is not worth the trouble for me. So I prefer to buy the packaged dubbing. You get a consistent product of hare's ear and regular dubbing blend. It is difficult to get the same repeatable mixture ratio when you mix your own.

If you want to try, there are methods of mixing including using canned air or air from a tire filling station,.

 

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Yeah - I've watched a few videos on making custom blends - color, texture, etc. Since I don't often have an opportunity to go trout fishing (too warm to sustain them around here), my fly tying satisfies a few needs, and some curiosity.

 

Quote

100% hare's mask dubbing is hard to "dub" onto a thread.

you mean the DIY from a shaved mask? or that the antron blend makes it easier?

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Whether you cut the fur from the mask yourself or you buy 100% hare's ear, it is more difficult to dub than the blends. The 100% hare's ear has short relatively stiff fibers and when longer fibers (whether they are natural fur like rabbit or synthetic fibers) are blended with it, the longer fibers are easier to dub and they "carry" and trap the hare's ear in the dubbed fly body.

Get a hare's ear mask and you will see what I mean.

See this video on making your own dubbing. Note that Tim Flagler says the guard hair from the Hare's ear is almost impossible to dub so he mixes it with rabbit fur dubbing. You can follow the instructions below to make hare's ear dubbing.

 

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3 hours ago, SilverCreek said:

100% hare's mask dubbing is hard to "dub" onto a thread.

Packaged dubbing is $2.35

https://www.jsflyfishing.com/hareline-hares-ear-plus-dubbing

I've clipped a hare's mask. They smell and clipping the hair down to the skin is not worth the trouble for me. So I prefer to buy the packaged dubbing. You get a consistent product of hare's ear and regular dubbing blend. It is difficult to get the same repeatable mixture ratio when you mix your own.

 

Is this the product you end up preferring for that right balance?

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For the natural color I blend my own bunny face and sometimes add a little antron or SLF for sparkle. For a variety of other colors I like the Nature's Spirit Hare's Mask Dubbing.

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I like the hares ear plus as well. A pack of Dubbing is not that expensive and ties a lot of flies. dubbing packs collect quickly. Most of my dubbing I inherited and I'll never use it all just like my father didn't use it. I do tie and fish hares ears a lot and  like the hares ear plus for them. I have two hares masks, a natural and an olive  that hang over my bench for no reason. Haven't touched them since I bought them. Yep wasted my money on that purchase. 

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I know the feeling - i have a ton of materials my dad picked up in the early 90s, and not really used since (even right now I just found a package of olive Hareline Hares Ear Plus  - $1.50, probably ~30y/o). It's amazing how much some things have changed since then - especially when you consider materials like dry fly hackle. I think my Hareline dry neck chunks are largely better quality than the full capes he probably spent a lot of money. Same goes for the explosion in high-quality synthetic materials.

I think i'll go with the hares ear plus packages, and a natural package "for fun".

@jaydub - i looked into nature spirit, but the online shop i'm buying several other items from doesn't have them in stock. Thanks for the recommendation, though - I'll keep an eye out for next time.

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Ya know, I don't think I've ever caught a fish using straight antron dubbing for hares ears and it's not like I haven't tried.. The blend has promise though, there are conditions where it seems beneficial.. For me day in and day, I prefer the natural because I've had the best results fishing with it nearly everywhere in average conditions. You learn ways to get it on the thread, it's really not all that big a deal. And if you want a little sparkle wind a thin gold rib into the nymph. I do find that to help quite a bit.

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I have some olive Hare's Ear Plus that I really like, but mostly I buy the plain Hare's Ear and then add to it whatever I want when the mood strikes.  I mix in ice dub quite a bit for a little sparkle.

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