It has been awhile since I've posted any new patterns on my site, so I thought I would back up a bit. Mostly I haven't posted anything because I have been working on several writing projects and haven't had the time to experiment for awhile.This winter ( 2006) I got some extra money for Christmas and at my wife's urging I bought a new digital camera. ( For what it's worth I bought a Nikon Cool Pix L6. ) I can't say I'm some techno wiz because I am not. I don't even know if my photos are really that good, I just thought well I will take a few shots and see how it goes.
I choose to take some pictures of soft hackles because they aren't that complicated. I also have this vague idea of starting a beginner's section for easy flies on my web site. Maybe something that kids or families could use, we'll see. We will begin by talking about soft hackles in general......a little background if you will. Soft hackle geru Sly Nemes has traced loads of flies and articles in his book, " Two Centuries of Soft Hackles". In this book he pulls all sorts of patterns from a good many obscure publications. These are fairly interesting patterns since Syl covers the development of this style of fly over a long period of time. I'm not exactlly sure where this pattern came from but it is an old style pattern that is very useful. It combines 2 good ideas and makes it into a nice fishable fly that is pretty easy for even the newest tyers to make.
Before we make our fly
let's talk about materials. On the left is a partridge pelt. I know a good
many of you may think well, I can buy just a packet of feathers and that
should be good. I perfer to buy whole pelts when I can. The pelts offer
you the tyer, many sizes,shades and shapes of feathers. The cape usually
has a light gray while the saddle has a dark brown. The backs of wings have
marbled feathers. Quills from the tails and wings are also quite useful
for making wet flies. The larger breast feathers can be used for big nymphs
and for throats on wet flies. My favorite feathers come from the cape, saddle
and the backs of the wings. By buying a pelt you 
also get a full
range of sizes and can tie flies from a size 8 down to an 18.
In the long run a full pelt will actually save you time and money because the cost of each feather goes down when you buy the entire pelt. With this single pelt, some dubbing, floss, wire and tinsel you can tie hundreds of flies in a variety of patterns. Also by mastering just this pattern you take this same idea and expand on it to create lots of interesting variations. For example you can tie a Pheasant Tail Spider, Partridge and Green ( Red, Orange et al) and loads of other flies just by changing the dubbing, wire, floss or tinsel.
Here's the pattern we are going to tie:
Mike's Hare's Ear Spider:
Hook: Mustad 3906B sizes 10-16
Thread: 6/0 Black
Rib: Gold Mylar Tinsel
Body: Hare's Mask Dubbing
Hackle: Partridge Cape
Begin by wrapping the hook with thread,
travel down the hook shank and stop above the hook's point. Tie in a piece
of gold mylar tinsel. I use Danville's extra fine double sided tinsel. I
tie the gold side facing out. I move the thread up the hook shank and then
back down to cover the tinsel.
Next I start to dub
the body. I take and pinch some dubbing and strech it out a bit. I twist
the dubbing counter clock wise. The main reason I do this is so that the
body is more durable.
As you move the dubbed thread
forward, the dubbing rolls into itself. This single step makes the fur bond
together with itself, making the fly much stronger. Basically, you twist
left to dub and wrap right to create the body. I have found this method
to be easy and effective. Dub up to the eye of the hook leaving about 2-3
eye lengths open. Leaving space allows you to have room for the hackle.
Make 2-3 turns of tinsel at the base
of the body. This will create a small tag and also allows you to make sure
that the tinsel is facing the correct way. If the gold side isn't up, make
a few twists and continue to wrap. Wrap the tinsel forward in even twisting
turns. For this hook, I make about 4-5 turns of tinsel. On smaller hooks,
you might make less wraps. Tie the tinsel off and clip the tag off.
Tie in a hackle from the cape
with the good side or shiny side out. If the feather looks dull you have
the wrong side out. To size the hackle I choose an oversized feather that
is about 1 1/2 times the distance of the hook gap or the distance between
the hook point and the shank. Clip the stem of the feather off.
Wrap the hackle around the
hook shank. If the fibers get matted twist them a bit with your fingers.
If I don't like how the fibers lie, I will cock the head by twisting to
get the hackle to lie straight.
One step I do that drives
traditionists nuts is this. After I cock the head and twist the fibers,
I wind the thread back into the hackle. This locks it into place and makes
the fibers lie exactlly where I want them to. This method saves you from
creating all sorts of bizzare hackle folds and makes the hackle slope back.
A correctly wrapped wet fly has a hackle wrapped in a cone shape like the
one shown.
Make a whip finish and cut
off any tag ends of thread. If you wish you can rough up the body by rubbing
it with a vel-cro dubbing stick or a dubbing brush tool. That's it. Now
you go nuts and make all sorts of variations just by changing the body to
floss, pheasant tail fibers or adding a bit of wire for the tinsel.
If you are interested, I have a kit of materials:
Mike's Soft Hackle Spider Kit, Includes: Partridge Pelt, Hare's Ear
dub, Tinsel. Gold Wire, Peacock, Orange, Olive and Yellow Floss, Pheasant
tail, size 12 and 14 hooks. $30.00. Everything you need to get started.
To order, just click on the email button below and let me know you want
this kit.
