Need some help on hares ear nymph tails

[mike_richardson]

I tie my hares ear nymphs with a fur tail. Always have and always will. After I tied up 2 dozen last night I realized I have some inconsistency with my tails.

I get the tail by snipping out some of the hair found in the middle of a hares mask. After I snip the hair there I sort of pull out the fluffy under fur, and tie in the tail.

Any tips on how to keep these more uniform? I know the flies will catch fish the way they are I just want to have more consistency in my patterns.

I appreciate any advice.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[McSneek]

'cept for those weird rubber legs you have tied in to them they look pretty nice. :lol:

In all seriousness I think you just need to be more aware of how much material you are using and how long you are making the tails. To me the way to be more consistent is to tie one you are satisfied with and then try to make every successive tie match it as closely as possible. If the tail on the next one doesn't look the same as your "sample fly", stop, add/reduce material and adjust the length until it does.

 

[mike_richardson]

Thanks,

I am addicted to those legs, but am also getting in to more soft hackle stuff these days as well.

I just cant seem to get that tail down. The look decent, and to someone who doesn't tie may think that, but it aggravates me. Just that tail varies from mask to mask, with how much under fur and such, and as you go back the mask the material varies in length. I think that is why a ton of guys just tie them with tail fibers from pheasant or turkey. Saves a lot of time, and also you can just count fibers and keep it consistent. LOL

I am just stubborn and don't like them unless they have a fur tail.

 

[troutbert]

You can just use brownish chicken hackle fibers for tailing. And just several fibers. I don't like the big thick tails.

 

[mike_richardson]

I try to use anchor points on the vice to determine length and such as well. like my my finger tips need to hit here and it will have all the same length tail.

When I go to snip and add material if it is too sparse or something they always end up goofy as well. Just wanted to see if there is some tip I am over looking on tying it in. Seems so simple but I can never get it right.

 

[afishinado]

I just tie the tail with any longer variegated soft feathers I have like partridge or grouse. It looks more natural and adds movement compared to a tail made of guard hairs. But I don't think it really matters either way.

 

[RLeep2]

"Perfect" and "good enough" cannot exist in the same space simultaneously without actively undermining each other and leading to anxiety, frustration and heartburn....

 

[nomad_archer]

I have started tying all of my nymph tails with feather. Usually soft hackle partridge, grouse, pheasant, or chicken. I like sparse tails and that is easy to achieve with feather.

 

[troutbert]

nomad_archer wrote:
I have started tying all of my nymph tails with feather. Usually soft hackle partridge, grouse, pheasant, or chicken. I like sparse tails and that is easy to achieve with feather.

I've used all of these but nymph tails of partridge, grouse, and pheasant all seem to break off pretty quickly.

While chicken neck fibers do not. They seem to have a combination of flexibility and toughness that makes them last well.

 

[NewSal]

Mike - Do you stack your hair in a stacker prior to tying in?

 

[Sparky]

Use less mask hairs. Stack, measure to a little less than the hook length, tie in. When you use too much, the fibers tend to splay out.

 

[RCFetter]

I prefer the fur tail on the hare's ear but I also have trouble with it. If I don't like the way it looks, I cut more hair and try again.

I forget his name but the guy for InTheRiffle makes it look so easy in the first 20 seconds of the video:

 

[PennKev]

As others have said use feathers. Grouse, pheasant, hen soft hackle, whatever. You're already sticking molded rubber legs on your nymphs, why worry about using the traditional fur tails? Just use whatever looks right and is easy for you to achieve the desired look.

For what it's worth, I've seen very few fur hare's ear tails that don't look unrealistically bulky.


Kev

 

[franklin]

How many do you tie at one sitting? I sometimes find my first ones vary and then as I get into a batch I get more consistent.

 

[franklin]

RCFetter wrote:
I prefer the fur tail on the hare's ear but I also have trouble with it. If I don't like the way it looks, I cut more hair and try again.

I used to give the odd looking ones to my son. After he started out fishing me with them I quit doing that.

Don't feel bad for him. I paid for his PSU FFing class so he now can tie his own.

 

[troutbert]

Grouse and partridge fibers for tails look good, but they break off quickly. Same with pheasant tail fibers.

Chicken neck hackle fibers last longer.

 

[mike_richardson]

I don't have a hair stacker, I sold them. never used one really. Its not a traditional type mindset to have the fur for the tail. I just like the looks of the fur tail. All of those will catch fish, but I set out to improve my tying after getting grilled on here about 3-4 years ago. I made them like little tanks, and got my consistency down a lot better. Now its just the fine tuning that I want to work on and learning other techniques. Hair stacking, and maybe dubbing loops are in my future.

I think my issue is that I am tying at a pretty fast pace, and just have to slow down more on the hares mask tails and pay attention to where I am making my cut with my scissors.

There is nothing wrong with a turkey tail, or soft hackle tail. But on my "Traditional hares ear patterns" I want that fur tail.

I really don't think the fish will know the difference and those will slay them, its just in my head to improve, and was hoping you guys could help.

Is there a certain size hair stacker you would suggest? I tie hares ear from size 10-16.

 

[NewSal]

mike_richardson wrote:
I don't have a hair stacker, I sold them. never used one really. Its not a traditional type mindset to have the fur for the tail. I just like the looks of the fur tail. All of those will catch fish, but I set out to improve my tying after getting grilled on here about 3-4 years ago. I made them like little tanks, and got my consistency down a lot better. Now its just the fine tuning that I want to work on and learning other techniques. Hair stacking, and maybe dubbing loops are in my future.

I think my issue is that I am tying at a pretty fast pace, and just have to slow down more on the hares mask tails and pay attention to where I am making my cut with my scissors.

There is nothing wrong with a turkey tail, or soft hackle tail. But on my "Traditional hares ear patterns" I want that fur tail.

I really don't think the fish will know the difference and those will slay them, its just in my head to improve, and was hoping you guys could help.

Is there a certain size hair stacker you would suggest? I tie hares ear from size 10-16.

I really feel like you get a much better tail (proportion wise) by stacking the hair, you really don't even need a "hair stacker" to stack hair. I've used the cap of a marker before.. Just stick your clump in the cap, tap it on your palm then pull the hair out with all the tips aligned.

 

[franklin]

mike_richardson wrote:
I don't have a hair stacker, I sold them. never used one really. Its not a traditional type mindset to have the fur for the tail. I just like the looks of the fur tail. All of those will catch fish, but I set out to improve my tying after getting grilled on here about 3-4 years ago. I made them like little tanks, and got my consistency down a lot better. Now its just the fine tuning that I want to work on and learning other techniques. Hair stacking, and maybe dubbing loops are in my future.

I think my issue is that I am tying at a pretty fast pace, and just have to slow down more on the hares mask tails and pay attention to where I am making my cut with my scissors.

There is nothing wrong with a turkey tail, or soft hackle tail. But on my "Traditional hares ear patterns" I want that fur tail.

I really don't think the fish will know the difference and those will slay them, its just in my head to improve, and was hoping you guys could help.

Is there a certain size hair stacker you would suggest? I tie hares ear from size 10-16.

Using a hair stacker seems like a lot of work for fur nymph tails. It's also the dry season so fighting the static charges is also a pain. If you do want to give one a try I'd go with the smallest diameter all metal one I could find. Dr Slick small or such.

 

[mike_richardson]

I was thinking maybe an empty 22 shell or something. I will give it a shot but if it adds too much time it may now be worth it. And I will just have to deal with it. LOL

They don't look bad but I am really hard on myself these days to always improve.