Copper Clad Hares Ear

[letumgo]

Copper Clad Hares Ear
Hook - Mustad R50 / Size 10
Thread - Pearsalls Gossamer Silk (Ash / No. 10) - Thanks JohnP
Hackle - Indian Hen Hackle (Furnace)
Tag/Rib - UTC Ultra Wire (Copper / Small)
Abdomen - Pearsalls Gossamer Silk (Ash / No. 10)
Thorax - Hares Ear (Natural Light Colored)

[hankaye]

Ray, Howdy;

DANG !!! That's gotta be one of the prettyist flys I 've seen...

How did you get the candy cane effect on the ribbing ? That's
got to be the highlight of the whole thing !!!

hank

[letumgo]

Thanks Hank. I tyed in the copper rib along the back side of the hook, using the tying silk. I ran the silk all the way from the eye of the hook, to the back end of the fly, and then forward to the thorax area. The silk is wrapped in close touching turns, to keep the body uniform as possible. Then dubbed the thread and wrapped the thorax. Next the copper wire is wrapped two turns towards the bend of the hook (forming the tag), and then forward in open spirals. I wrapped the wire over the abdomen as well as the thorax, to give the body a visible segmentation and slight sparkle. Normally I would have only ribbed the abdomen, but wanted to see how I liked the full body wraps. I like it.

EDIT - Oh, I see what you mean by candy cane effect. That is just a trick of the light. It almost makes the copper wire has been twisted in some way (but it isn't).

[DUBBN]

Thats a Hares Ear with class! I hope that pattern makes it in your book!

[letumgo]

Thanks Wayne. Hopefully it will...

Out of curiosity, I dunked the fly in some water to see what it looked like wet. I was surprised by how much the ash silk darkened. It almost looks like a dark dun-shade of brown. It is a hard color to describe, but it seems like it would be very appealing to imitate insects. The dry silk kinda has a pewter look to it, but it is much darker when wet. Anyway, this little experiment shows once again the importance of checking the flies color when it is wet. The color can change significantly when working with silk.

[JohnP]

Beautiful fly, Ray - good to see you back posting patterns. That much more for me to drool over.

[Mataura mayfly]

Ray, I have heard it said "any idiot can tie a pheasant tail or a hares ear" and perhaps idiots like me can, but do they look as good as this? I think not.

To take a simple pattern tied by most all tiers at some stage and tie it really well is a challenge, you sir have represented very well.

[cicvara]

-Pretty fly and nice photos..

[kacbo]

Like it!

[DNicolson]

A very nice fly, nice subtle colours. Looks very North Country.