Unless you have been "off the grid" or living in a cave for the last several years you certainly have heard of Tenkara fishing, a type of fly fishing that originated in the Orient and uses a collapsible rod and a fixed length of line. It resembles the type of fishing that many of us practiced when we were kids; a cane pole with a length of line attached to the tip. It is basic fishing 101.

We will be discussing some of the famous Hare's Ear patterns of history along with a selection of various Hare's Ear Patterns that I have used as a Fly Fishing Guide and during the Fly Tying Clinics I have conducted over the past thirty years.

I got several things done in the yard so I decided that I needed to head for a pond. I was not sure I could get the canoe in, but went to one of my favorites. As it turned out I could drive in. The road was fixed as the field had been harvested. My guess is they did this to make it easier to get in and out of the field.

In the previous chapter, I discussed hook and gut loop and now we will look at feathers. At the beginning, it did sound somewhat intimidating and overwhelming to acquire all the necessary materials. I had to learn how to handle each material and tie it in on the hook with a limited amount of feathers (but also with limited budget!). More overwhelmingly, what if I gave up the entire subject? Even from the beginning, I felt this would be either achievement or zero. Anyway, I conquered those fears. Now I'm really comfortable to work with expensive feathers.

Finding myself along one of my favorite streams as fall fast approaches I took the chance to get an hour-or-so on the water. With multiple priorities pulling me in different directions an hour was about all that I had. Better an hour on good trout water than no time at all. The rush to gear up at the truck was obvious as I hurried to beat the clock of life, but catching myself I slowed things down a bit. Too much of a hurry where fly fishing is involved never seems to work out well from my experiences.