Fly of the month

The alluring qualities of many nymph imitations depend on the fact that the body of the flies has many small excrescences, or appendices, that will oscillate or vibrate when in the current. Mainly, the work of these attributes is to reproduce all those swimming or respiratory organs, which are present on the abdomen and thorax of nymphs and that generally contribute to render the preys more attractive to the fish. By virtue of this fact, a great percentage of imitations of young ephemeral and sedge is composed with soft downs that are applied to the hooks with the dubbing techniques. The dubbing techniques can be distinguished in two main categories: in the first one you use of a special wax, or resin, in order to fatten the thread. The second one suggests to utilise an appropriate dubbing spinner to form a loop with the thread, in which we insert the materials for creating the hairy rope. The difference between the two systems is that with the wax dubbing, the bodies of the flies appear more compact, while in the second case the artificial seems fluffier. For these different characteristics, the two techniques are often requested for building the distinctive parts of a nymph. An example of that is given by the dressing of the Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear, one of the most known and effective imitations of ephemeral at the nymph stage, which is built with practically one ingredient (the hare’s ear fur) applied to the hook with the different dubbing techniques. This artificial, not really young, but always appreciated by the anglers, is a successfull pattern because of the great versatility it demonstrates in every situation. In fact it can be used as a nymph for deep fishing, applying a suitable ballast structure to the hook, or as an emergent nymph, building it on light wire hooks: in this case, the fly can help us to tempt fish that are feeding just below the water surface.
THE DRESSING
Step 1: I start the building process of the Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear by clamping the hook into the vice jaw and then wind the black thread onto the shank. I fix a piece of fine lead wire to the hook and wrap it along the front half of the shank in order to realise the ballast structure.

	Step 2: I cut off a small tuff of hair from the hare's fur and I secure it close to the curve, placing it so it extends from the hook bend for a length equivalent to the shank.

Step 3: With some turns of the thread, I tie in a piece of fine copper wire; I wax a section of thread and distribute a pinch of hare's ear hair over it. Next, with the thumb and the index finger of my right hand, I compact the dubbing.

	Step 4: Turning the dubbing around the rear two thirds of the hook shank, I create the abdomen of the imitation by making ribs with the copper wire.

Step 5: I cut off a section of fibres from a grey goose feather and tie it in in front of the abdomen, placing it so that it extends backwards over the body. Next, using the dubbing spinner, I form a loop with the black thread and insert a pinch of hare's fur hair into the loop, realising a fluffy dubbing .

	Step 6: By wrapping the dubbing around the front third of the hook shank, I build the nymph thorax.

Step 7: I push the tuft of goose fibres forwards, placing it to cover the upper part of the thorax, and I secure it just behind the hook eye.

	Step 8: Now I cut off the surplus of the material for the elytrum; then I form the fly head with some turns of the thread and I whip finish over it.

Step 9: A light layer of glue uniformly distributed over the head will prevent to the thread from untying itself, increasing the resistance of the Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear.

Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear is one of the 88 flies described in
Luca's recent book entitled "Flies - Mosche da pesca".
To get more information about it click on http://www.edolimpia.it/lev_1/pesca/top_pesca.htm
or send an e-mail to
libri@edolimpia.it) .

Although it's written in Italian, it should be interesting
to many fly tiers due to the many excellent photographs.

Luca Montanari

FLY OF THE MONTH