Fly of the month – June

By Les Lockey

The Hare’s Ear Half Hog Hopper – (Emerger)

Hook: Fario FBL 302, sizes 10 or 12. (Kamasan B160 equivalent)

Thread: Fly Smith GSP, 32D, beige, or any fine pale brown thread.

Wing: Deer hair – roe, coastal, white tail or elk.

Rib: Fine holographic gold tinsel.

Abdomen: Hare or rabbit fur, lightly dubbed.

Legs: 4 Cock pheasant tail fibres, knotted twice.

Thorax: Hare or rabbit fur, lightly dubbed.

Head: Pale Olive UV Ice Dub.

Photo 1. Secure the hook in the vice, and starting at the eye, wind on a short bed of thread, remove the waste thread and return the thread to about 2mm. from the hook eye.

Photo 2. Cut off a bunch of deer hair from the pelt, remove the underfur and any broken ends and insert the bunch into a hair stacker, tips first. Tap the stacker to align the tips and remove the hair. With the hair slightly shorter than the hook shank and the tips forward of the hook eye, tie the bunch down securely on top of the shank. Cut off the excess hair at an angle and tidy the area with thread forming a neat thorax underbody.

Photo 3. Tie in a length of fine holographic gold tinsel at the end of the thorax area and bind it down with thread to just before the hook bend.

Photo 4. Lightly dub the hare fur onto the thread and wind the dubbing noodle up the shank to the thorax.

Photo 5. In open turns, wind the holographic tinsel up the shank as a rib and secure in place with a few turns of thread at the thorax.  Remove the excess tinsel.

Photo 6. Tie in 2 knotted cock pheasant tail legs on either side of the abdomen and remove the waste fibres. Tidy the area with thread ready for the thorax and wing.

Photo 7. Lightly dub more hare fur onto the thread to form a slim dubbing noodle. Gently pull back about a third of the deer hair fibres and keep them in place using a few turns of the dubbing noodle wound over the deer hair fibres, forming the start of the thorax as you go. Repeat this process twice more until all the deer hair has been tied down and now pointing rearward.

Photo 8. Dub a little Ice Dub onto the thread and wind it on quite loosely at the head, leaving the thread next to the hook eye.

Photo 9. Stroke any stray fibres rearward and retain in place with a couple of turns of thread. Add a touch of varnish to the thread, whip finish through the varnish and remove the thread. To complete the fly, hold the legs away from the wing and thorax area and carefully brush the dubbed head, deer hair wing and dubbed thorax with a piece of Velcro to pull some fibres into the wing.

Tying tips

• When securing the deer hair to the hook shank, remember to leave a small space in front of the deer hair as this will be needed to finish off the fly. While securing the deer hair on to the shank I like to keep hold of the waste ends so that when I cut them away I can simply put the rubbish straight in to the bin which helps to keep my tying desk tidy.
• The conventional way of tying the deer hair wing for patterns such as hedgehogs, sedgehogs and half hogs is to use several individual bunches of deer hair tied in separately, with each bunch having the base “tidied” by covering it with dubbing before the next bunch is tied in. This is not only a very time consuming method, as each bunch needs to be cut, cleaned of underfur and stacked prior to being tied in and finally dubbed around the base, but it also tends to make a rather bulky finished fly. The method outlined above is much quicker, as it cuts down on deer hair preparation time and allows for the formation of the thorax at the same time as tying down the deer hair wing. The resulting fly is therefore much less bulky, which is ideal when tying on small hooks.
• This method of tying the wing can also be applied to other emerger patterns such as sedges and buzzers, and by using a red or orange dubbing for the first tie down of the deer hair wing, a hot spot thorax trigger can be easily produced, making the technique really versatile.
• It is also worth tying this pattern on a curved hook such as the Fulling Mill Czech nymph hook which allows the fly to sit deeper in the surface film which can often make all the difference when faced with fussy trout.

Fishing hints

• This pattern can be fished whenever fish are rising, but it is especially effective when olives are hatching.
• I invariably fish the fly on its own using a floating line and a tapered leader but in a good hatch I have been known to fish two at a time with one on a straight hook and the other on a curved hook to allow for changes in fish feeding preferences.