Fly of the Month-Feb 2017-Teddy Bear Nymph
Guest Blogger: Paul Beel, FrankenFly
In this blog post I want to concentrate on one of the most well known, effective nymphs that exist, the Hare’s Ear nymph. I don’t want to bore you with details of its history, but concentrate on a modern perspective and new ways to tie it. One thing to mention is that hare’s ear fur has been used for a long time, even as far back as the 1600’s. If you want to know more about its history, I recommend heading over to Flyanglers Online and read an article by Tom Travis where he delves deep into the history of the Hare’s Ear nymph.
The reason this nymph is called a Hare’s Ear is because originally this nymph was tied using the fur found in between the ears of a hare. These days, you can purchase a hare’s mask and get the fur by clipping the hair between the ears. Not only can you use the underfur in this region, but to make it even more buggy, you want to use the guard hairs as well. These days fly tiers will use all parts of the mask to tie a Hare’s Ear. Not only that, but tiers that push the envelope even further, use modern dubbing mixes to tie this popular nymph.
Continue reading → Fly of the Month-Feb 2017-Teddy Bear Nymph
I tie an unweighted zonker-ish fly variation. I’ve fished this fly the past few years for smallies on my local Midwest rivers. This last year, I’ve also fished it a fair amount for Driftless trout and most recently, on the Missouri River near Craig. I’m sure it will catch fish anywhere there’s hungry fish wanting to survive. On bigger or faster water, I’ll use a 7wt Rio 15ft type six sink tip line and on smaller streams, I’ll use a floating line or various trout versileaders to adjust depth. The color combinations of this fly are infinite, but black, purple, and orange will always be a personal favorite.
