PARA9. The Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear Parachute Dry Fly

THE GOLD RIBBED HARES EAR PATTERN
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. This is classified as a ‘Fancy’ pattern. I would not be without it. Years of experimenting have resulted in the general rule that a shaggy, scruffy hairy nymph is better at catching trout near the surface than a slim sleek nymph. Why is this so I hear you ask? Just think about what happens to a slim sleek bottom dwelling nymph as it floats to the surface just before it hatches. The water pressure decreases as the insect gets near the surface. Gases within the body expand. They bulk out its body inside its last nymph skin. This is the skin that it is about to shed. It looks bigger to the predatory trout. 

As the pressure of the water reduces its legs, gills, tail and head all swell. It's limbs are not capable of bending like they used to and now stick out. On the water surface it will have to fight to get through the surface tension to survive. The struggling and wriggling movement takes place inside the gas filled skin. Imagine that you are wearing a heavy diving suit the wrong way around and the zip was on your back. You are in the sea and you only had a couple of seconds to get out of the suit before you drowned. That is the sort of thing a hatching inset has to endure.

As the emerging insect thrashes and wriggles out of its skin the hungry trout see a fuzzy knotted disjointed bulky moving mass. When the insect is standing on the water surface near it's old skin waiting for its blood to pump up it's wings and the sun to dry them out the view from under the surface is still of a tangled mess of old skin and legs. You can now see why a fish will take a scruffy shaggy mess of hair tied to a hook rather than a slim neat nymph near the water surface. 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 no one knows with certainty who originally designed the fly but it is believed that Frederick Helford popularized the pattern in the late 1880s as a dry fly. The mayfly nymph can be imitated quite well with a large gold ribbed Hare's ear. The most common method of fishing this popular fly is on a dead drift. The nymph is cast upstream and allowed to drift with the current. 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.

When out fishing have you ever been covered in a cloud of Anglers Curse, those small white Caenis flies. The flies that hatch out of the water, immediately land on you and shed their skin. They get in your nose, mouth, down your shirt - everywhere. They don't bite but they tickle a lot. Fish love them - anglers hate them. I think I have found an answer to the caenis.  Instead of trying to fish a small size 20 imitation, try using a  Gold Ribbed Hares Ear Parachute on a size 14 hook.  This seems to imitate a clump of caenis . Because the fish are so high in the water and swimming randomly instead of in a straight line, keep lifting and casting so that the fly lands on the fish's nose. You can use the same technique for clumps of tiny black midges. Just use a Black Gnat Parachute Fly instead.

PARACHUTE DRY FLIES
The term parachute fly is given to flies in which the hackle is tied round a projection affixed to the top of the hook shank near the eye so that the hackle lies horizontally across the hook which it covers in the manner of an open umbrella. The weight of the hook underneath the circular hackle balances the fly which falls lightly on the water parachute fashion. Various patterns are tied in the parachute style and a Scottish tackle firm was the first to commercially market these flies a long time ago. It is not certain who invented them but an American called William Brush of Detroit applied for an American patent for the idea in 1931 and it was granted in 1934. The patent related to the projection on the hook and not the fly itself.

The traditional way of dressing dry flies with upright wings and hackles that make the fly stand high on the water's surface may be very pleasing but it is not necessarily the best design for catching fish in some anglers opinions. The parachute dry fly style of dressing allows the fly to sit well down in or on the surface film, mimicking either an emerging mayfly dun filling its wings, a spent spinner, stillborn, floating nymph or a crippled drowning fly trapped in the surface film. They can be dramatically more effective at getting takes. Some traditionalist will not use them but I find them very effective and easy to cast correctly. I have found them more suited to still water fishing as once a ripple or two has broken over them they become waterlogged.  The softer landing, the delicate presentation is one of this patterns principle benefits. The parachute effect of the hackle slows down the descent. It does not spook the fish as much as a normal dry fly.  They are one of my favorite lake flies.

When the mayflies have stopped emerging and the surface action has died down. The fishing is not over if you know where to look. Go for a walk down the riverbank and look for bankside eddies, areas of slow slack pockets of water near faster moving water. A lot of mayflies do not successfully emerge during the hatch. They are referred to as cripples or stillborn. Others are flipped over, capsized in choppy water. They seem to collect in these eddies. You will find trout rising to them long after the original hatch has finished. Cast a Parachute into these pockets and let it drift. It is a great way to extend your surface fishing time.