GOLD RIBBED HARE'S EAR NYMPH The Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear is one of the all time great effective classic patterns. It is a 'must have' fly in everyone's fly box. It is not an imitation of a particular insect but a general representation pattern that takes fish again and again and again. I would not be without it. We have increased our range to 12 variations to suit all water conditions and color. It‰Ûªs shaggy appearance resembles many species of nymphs when they shed their skins or ‰Û÷shucks‰Ûª as they progress into the next stage of their life. In the past to make this pattern more of a killing machine fly fishermen used to tease out the fur below the thorax to make it resemble legs. We have left that natural fur untrimmed on purpose, to help in the deception. The occasional long hair coming from the body will assist fooling the trout that your fly is alive as the it moves in the water. Too often you see neatly trimmed Gold Ribbed Hares Ear nymphs for sale in tackle shops. Those fly manufacturers are missing the point. The more scruffy this fly is the better it is at catching fish. It is a very old pattern and has certainly been around for over two centuries. No one knows with certainty who originally designed the fly but it is attributed to the Victorian tyer James Ogden. It is believed that Frederick Halford popularized the pattern in the late 1880s as a dry fly, but later dismissed it as it did not represent a specific insect. This is a most effective short-range technique and takes are usually seen as a splash at the surface. The Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear has proven it's effectiveness in lakes. Fished very slowly near the bed of the lake it is particularly attractive to brown trout. NYMPH FLIES Nymphs represent insects in their under water aquatic life stage. This stage comes before the adult stage where the insects emerge out of the water and fly away, normally to mate and lay eggs (dry fly). Technically the term 'Nymph' means the juvenile stage of a Mayfly but it is commonly used to refer to any insect in it's aquatic life stage. Nymphs are, perhaps one of the most deadliest ways of taking most species of freshwater fish. In a river or stream, they can be fished anywhere from just beneath the surface to imitate emerging or drowned flies to right to the bottom to imitate the unhatched larvae. These flies weigh a little more than a dry fly, and weight is often added to them in order for them to achieve the proper depth. This additional weight makes them a little harder to cast but the good news is that there is almost no wind resistance. Generally fish nymph flies along the bottom, move them slowly and smoothly. Every now and then dart the fly forward as if it is attacking its prey or trying to escape from the advances of a predatory large fish. Such movements hopefully may induce a following trout to take your fly.
