Fly Angler's OnLine "Beginning Fly Tying Part 28"

Part Twenty-eight

Intermediate Fly Tying:

Hare Wing Flies

By Al Campbell

The title of this week's session does not have a typo in it. This week we'll look at flies that use snowshoe hare foot hairs for the wing. Yes, I said foot hairs. The bottom of the hind feet of snowshoe hares have long, buoyant, kink resistant hair that floats like hollow hair when used in flies, especially in wings.

The problem with hollow hair like elk, deer and moose is that it's hollow and kinks or breaks easily. It floats like a cork, but after a few fish, it's usually kinked and frayed beyond use. CDC is a great material, but floatants and fish slime can foul the barbules and reduce the buoyant characteristics of the CDC. But the hair on the bottom of a snowshoe hare's foot is different. It's buoyant like elk hair, won't foul like CDC, and won't kink or break like most hollow hairs.

Most snowshoe hare feet are white, but if you can find one that was taken during the summer or fall before the color change, you can usually get hair that's a light chocolate dun color. If you desire any other color, you can use a waterproof marker to color the hair.

Those who live where snowshoe hares exist have a nearby supply and can choose when they will harvest these valuable feet. The rest of us must search for a vendor who supplies snowshoe hare feet. The only vendor I know of is Hunter's Angling Supplies (1-800-331-8558 or www.huntersangling.com). I've adapted many patterns to this material, but there are a few that were designed just for snowshoe hare feet. One is the Usual; a simple fly that uses hair from the bottom and the top of the foot for the entire fly. I like to use Angler's Choice Llama dubbing instead of hair from the top of the hare's foot because the llama dubbing is hollow and floats better than the hair from the top of a hare's foot.

Do all these hare's and hairs have you confused? Well then, let's look at a couple of flies and how to tie them. The visual reference might help.

List of materials: Da Usual

Hook: Light wire dry fly. Mustad 80000BR or equivalent. Size 12 to 22.

Thread: 6/0 Gudebrod or equivalent, black or color to match body.

Tail: Hair from the bottom of a snowshoe hare's hind foot. Pictured is one toe of a hare with a look at the hairs.

Body: Anglers Choice Llama dubbing. (The Usual pattern traditionally uses hair from other parts of the hare's foot.) Any quality dry fly dubbing will also work.

Wing: A clump of hair from the bottom of a snowshoe hare's foot tied post style. Use the longest hair on the foot.

Tying steps:

1. Select some long hairs from the bottom of a snowshoe hare's hind foot and tie in as a tail as shown.

2. Tie in another group of hairs from the bottom of the hare's foot for a wing. Tie them in as a post style wing similar to the wing used in thorax flies or parachute flies.

3. Dub a body of llama dubbing. If you want to keep it traditional, blend some fine hair from the top and short hair from the bottom of the hare's foot to create a coarse dubbing. The thorax area of the fly should be a little thicker than the rest of the body.

4. Tie off, whip finish and cement.

The Usual is an old fly that still catches fish like it did when it was new. It's also a good panfish fly in any water that has mayfly hatches.

Now, let's try a Hare's Foot Caddis.

List of materials: Hare's Foot Caddis

Hook: Light wire dry fly. Mustad 80000BR or equivalent. Size 12 to 22.

Thread: 6/0 Gudebrod or equivalent, black or color to match body.

Tail: None, or you can make a tailing shuck out of a small tuft hare's foot hair.

Body: Anglers Choice Llama Plus dubbing. (Hare dubbing like the dubbing mentioned in the Usual will work too.) Any quality dry fly dubbing will also work.

Wing: Two clumps of hair from the bottom of a snowshoe hare's hind foot. Choose the longest hair you can find.

Tying steps:

1. Start the thread and dub half a body as shown.

2. Tie in a wing of hare's foot hair to extend back over the body, past the hook bend as shown.

3. Dub the second half of the body.

4.Tie in a second wing of hare's foot hair. Adjust the length of this second wing to stop just short of the hook bend.

5. Trim the hair that extends over the hook eye. Antennae made from horse hair or moose hair can be added if desired.

6. Build a head, whip finish and cement the head.

Want a durable caddis that floats low in the water? If so, the hare's foot caddis is a good choice.

The following fly is one of my favorite mayfly patterns. Modeled after the Hairwing Dun, I call it the Hare's-wing Dun.

List of materials: Hares-wing Dun

Hook: Light wire dry fly. Mustad 80000BR or equivalent. Size 12 to 22.

Thread: 6/0 Gudebrod or equivalent, black or color to match body.

Tail: Hackle fibers from a dun spade hackle, tied split.

Body: Fine olive, gray or brown dubbing.

Hackle: Dun or brown dry fly hackle, clipped on the bottom like a thorax hackle.

Wing: A clump of hair from the bottom of a snowshoe hare's foot. Use the longest hair on the foot.

Tying Steps

1. Create a split tail using any of the methods shown in thorax flies. Dub a body to the point shown.

2. Tie in a quality dry fly hackle, curvature facing forward.

3. Make two hackle wraps back over the front part of the body, then two wraps forward and tie off.

4. Trim the hackle. Add a wing of hare's foot hair as shown. Tie off the thread, whip finish and cement.

5. Trim the hackle on the bottom the same way you trim a thorax fly's hackle.

I suspect that some will feel I went a bit fast on these instructions. If you've been keeping up with the series so far, you will already have the skills to perform the steps we covered, so detailed instructions would be repetitious.

The Hair Wing Dun is usually tied with an elk hair wing. It works equally as well with either wing. If you've had problems with elk hair being too brittle, try the hare's foot pattern. You might like the results.

See ya next week - Remember, I'm always happy to answer your questions, feel free to email me. ~ Al Campbell

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