Hare's Ear Sedge

[gingerdun]

This is another one of the patterns that Pete Hidy published. This is part of my ongoing exercise to learn how he tied his flies. That weird guard hare sticking out at the tail was unintended, but I decided I liked it, and didn't trim it off.

The cigar-shaped, double-taper was a hallmark of his flies, so that is part of what I am trying to imitate.

The medium dun hackle is from a 4 B's Hen Cape from Whitings, that I got from Joe Fox at Dette's at the Arts of the Angler show in Connecticut last fall. Had to sort through dozens if not hundreds of skins to find this single one.

[tie2fish]

An outstanding representation, Lance. Disregarding the minibarb giveaway, this could well be one of Pete's ties.

[DUBBN]

Lance, I am glad you did not trim that guard hair. Sometimes I believe we take too many pains to make a pattern look too neat, The one thing I can say about your fathers patterns are, to me, they look like they were tyed to catch fish first.

Keep up the good work,

Wayne

[Old Hat]

Yea, that is one of the nicest pieces of guard protruding from a fly I have ever witnessed. if you hadn't pointed it out I might have missed it completely. thanks.

Sorry, couldn't resist.
In all seriousness though, really well done imitation of your Dads style. I like the pattern as well. That hackle does look very much like the hackle I've seen on many of flies you've posted. I admit I don't know what you mean by a 4 B' s hen hackle.

I am a little worried by your recent posts though Lance. Not going into the forging business are you?

[gingerdun]

Guys,
Thanks for the encouragement. And the laughs.

Bill, as you know, I vacillate about using vintage v. modern hooks. I like having a little barb since I use felt-paged wallets. The old harpoon-style barbs look great though.

Wayne, Pete would have taken that as the ultimate compliment.

And Carl, maybe I should replicate that guard hair trick on all my caddis patterns? It is weird enough having long mayfly tails on caddis, so a couple more short stiff tails of guard hair wouldn't be any stranger—and might actually look more like a caddis.

4 B's is a line of rooster and hen capes and saddles that Whiting distributes. Here is a link with an illustration of a hen cape very similar to the one I got from Joe Fox.
http://www.flyshack.com/DisplayItem.asp ... OgodHFMA6Q

Forgeries? Don't put ideas into my head.
Actually I was deeply impressed by the Sawyer flies that John Shaner showed us—the ones that were tied by his family after he was gone. Something to be said for that, but I have a long way to go before I could do Pete's flies justice. I had about five rejects before I got one that was half-worthy of posing for the camera.

[William Anderson]

Lance, you really don't have far to go to achieve an exceptional replication of your father's flies and style. It's the attention to detail that puts you further down this path than the rest. It's a beautiful fly, and I love this hook for this fly very much. It's just so appropriate here. Something else for me to look into. I'm making a list.

Does Jim carry this cape? If not, I'm wondering if he might make them available. I'd definitely be interested in finding a number of these.

Thanks for putting this one together. There will be a remarkable chapter on fly tying legacy in the closing pages of the upcoming book. Well done.

w

[Kelly L.]

The fly is outstanding. I never heard of that hackle before. I must resist.........lol. Lance, the body on that fly is just killer. You have nailed it, in my opinion.

[letumgo]

Remarkably close to your Dad's style. Beautiful.

[hankaye]

gingerdun, Howdy;

Very well tied fly, I'm liking the 'extras' at the tail joint.
What is it about the 4 B skin that drew you to it? Is it a special breeding?
Why did you spur the seller to dive through so many for this particular one???
Curious mind syndrome kicking in ...

hank

[gingerdun]

Hank,
Finding small, soft, blue dun hen capes is notoriously difficult.
Joe Fox told me he didn't remember having any in stock, but said he'd look. At the bottom, to his surprise, he found this Whitings 4B's hen cape, natural medium dun.
It has small feathers at the neck, good for 16s. The hackle tips break easily while wrapping, so it is advisable to use rubber-tipped hackle pliers with a light touch.
I don't know why they are called 4B's.
The link lists these color options, but doesn't show photographs:

Black
Grizzly
Light dyed Dun
Medium Dun
Medium dyed Dun
Medium Ginger
Natural Brown
Splash
Variant
White
White dyed Brown