Hare’s Ear Soft Hackle

Hare’s Ear Soft Hackle

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Tying Instructions

1. Wrap lead-free wire from the mid-shank to a position about two eye lengths behind the eye.

2. Attach the thread to the shank and secure the lead wire with thread wraps. Note the wire tag that is aligned to the shank. This gives a very secure tie-down to the shank.

3. Attach a fine Gold Wire behind the lead wraps and wrap to the bend of the hook. Dub the thread with Hare’s Ear sparsely. You want a thin body.

4. Wrap the dubbing forward creating a thin body. Stop the body at the end of the lead wire wraps.

5. Counter wrap the Fine Gold Wire ribbing with even wraps up to the end of the body. Secure the tag end of the wire with thread wraps.

6. Select a partridge hackle with fibers that will reach the end of the bend from just behind the eye. Parepare the hackle by sweeping the fibers back leaving the fibers you wish to wrap the the remaining tip. This division will give you a place to secure the hackle to the shank just behind the eye. Position the hackle so that the fibers will sweep back, one wrapped.

6. 2-3 wraps of the hackle should be enough. As you wrap the hackle, use your hand to sweep back the fibers to keep them from getting caught. Place each wrap in front of the other. If done correctly, the natural sweep of the hackle itself will flow the fibers backward. If you use the thread to sweep the fibers back, it will deaden much of the life from the fibers. Anchor the hackle tag and trim. Create a small head and whip finish.

Materials to Order Material, click the link
Hook	TMC 3761 #10-18 or Daiichi 1530 #10-16
Thread	Uni-thread Black 8/0
Body	Hare's Ear Dubbing
Weight	Lead-free Wire
Tail	Mottled Brown Partridge Hackle fibers
Ribbing	Oval Gold Tinsel, small
Hackle	Mottled Brown Partridge Hackle

Izaak Walton

Hare’s Ear Soft Hackle

The Hare’s Ear Soft Hackle is a very old pattern coming from the Izaak Walton era of 1653.Walton wrote of this pattern in his book, The Compleat Angler. Soft Hackles are basically a floss or dubbed body with a soft, webby hackle of Partridge or Grouse, or even Hen Saddle Hackle.

Flymph

The Hare’s Ear Soft Hackle is often categorized as a Flymph due to the spikiness of the dubbing. This spikiness means that the pattern can catch air bubbles that simulates an emerging caddis or mayfly. They are meant to be fished subsurface, usually with a wet fly swing technique. The main focal point of the fly is the hackle, which should be tied sparsely with the hackle fibers in a swept upright position.

Presentation

Often, many soft hackles bought commercially are too heavily hackled and forcibly swept back with thread wraps. This actually negates many of the positive features of the fly since it limits the hackle action during the swing. Often, the fly is used as a wet fly swing where the fly is cast slightly downstream and across. An upstream mend is applied and the fly is allowed to drift downstream. The line tension causes the fly to sweep across the stream and rise until it is directly below you. This presentation represents either mayfly or caddis emergers. You can cover quite a bit of water with this technique. After the sweep, move downstream a couple of feet and do it again.

Setting the hook can be a challenge since the instinct is to lift the rod but often you just pull the fly out of the trout’s mouth. A better method is to do a side arm set toward the bank which will hook the trout in the corner of the jaw. Another presentation for this fly is to cast upstream and letting the fly sink. Strip the line in as it approaches and lift the rod slowly once the fly is downstream of you. The fly will rise off the bottom in a vertical manner and strikes are usually during this rise. The technique is called a Leisenring Lift.

Mend the Line

Another technique emphasized by Pete Hidy is mending the line during swing as this will slow the speed of the fly for a more natural presentation. The hook, TMC 9300, is a standard wet fly hook that is excellent within stillwaters. If you are fishing streams, you might consider switching to the TMC 3761 or TMC 3769 which is twice as heavy.
The pattern is regaining favor within the Sierra Nevada due to the effort of authors and proponents such as Sylvester Nemes and Dave Hughes.

Great References

Nemes wrote three books on the subject: The Soft Hackled Fly (1975), The Soft-Hackled Fly Addict (1981), and Soft Hackled Fly Imitations (1991). Hughes recently reaquainted us with the Soft Hackle in his book Wet Flies (1995).Nemes and Hughes often refer to Soft Hackles patterns with a floss body as these were the traditional tying methods. Often some Hare’s Ear dubbing was placed within the thorax region just behind the hackle, not to represent a thorax, but to give the hackle some support for remaining upright.

Since Hare’s Ear dubbing is now available in a multitude of colors and textures, it is often used for the entire body and the traditional floss is ignored. Keep in mind that the primary focus of the Soft Hackle is the hackle, not the body. Keep the dubbed body thin with the purpose of supporting the upright hackle in mind. For an example of the floss-body, see Grey Hackle Yellow

Hare’s Ear Soft Hackle, Olive

Hook	TMC 9300 #10-18
Thread	Olive Uni-thread 8/0
Body	Hares Ear Olive Dubbing
Thorax	Hares Ear Olive Dubbing
Ribbing	Oval Gold Tinsel, small
Hackle	Mottled Brown Partridge Hackle

BH Hare’s Ear Soft Hackle, Olive

Hook	TMC 3761 #10-18
Thread	Uni-thread Olive 8/0
Body	Olive Dyed Hare's Ear Dubbing
Weight	Gold Bead
Tail	Mottled Brown Partridge Hackle fibers
Ribbing	Small Gold Wire
Hackle	Mottled Brown Partridge Hackle

Beaded Hare’s Ear Soft Hackle, Olive

Hook	TMC 3761 #10-18
Thread	Uni-thread Olive 8/0
Body	Olive Dyed Hare's Ear Dubbing
Weight	Gold Bead
Tail	Olive India Hen Back Fibers
Ribbing	Small Gold Wire
Hackle	Olive India Hen Back Hackle

Green Butt Hare’s Ear Soft Hackle

Hook	TMC 3761 #10-18
Thread	Uni-thread Brown 8/0
Body	Dark Hare's Ear Dubbing
Butt	Olive Dyed Hare's Ear Dubbing
Ribbing	Small Gold Wire
Hackle	Mottled Partridge Hackle