Ode on a Hare's Pelt

Oh, Hares Fur, how can I use thee?
Let me count the ways...

The Hare fur has long been my favorite material, with only CDC Feathers coming close to its versatility. But unlike the CDC feathers which - wonderful as they are - are just one kind of a material, the Hare fur comes with several different types of hairs, all having their places in a fly tiers arsenal.

The dark and spikey hairs on the back of the hare are extremely scruffy, excellent material for a nymph body. This is the premium material on the hare, greatly desired by Czech fly tiers. Each hunting season I am able to bum at least one hare pelt from my hunting friends in exchange for a Ziploc bag of processed dubbing of this type.

The longer and lighter hairs on a hares's flanks are finer and much more mobile. Very good for larger patterns, such as this #8 Peeping Caddis.

The underfur of the hare is very fine and easy to dub into a tight rope. On the abdomen of this CZ Nymph it is seen in its natural greyish color, but it takes dye very easily and the range of its use on both wet and dry flies is limitless. Note the difference of the structure of the abdomen and the "legs" made from hair from the back of the very same pelt as the abdomen (the hot spot is rabbit fur).

Update: a very interesting article on the use of Hare can be found on blog pages of my UK based friend Alun Rees.

Heron Goldies

Some simple goldhead nymphs, not particularly fancy but they seem to have the catchy look. Fingers crossed they confirm my expectations in real action.

The tie:
#12 Hanák H260 short shank hook
3.3 mm Tungsten beadhead
a couple reddish brown rooster hackle fibers
fluo green floss thread by Tommi fly
Heron herl body
scruffy hare thorax

Pink!

Tying pink mayflies to cheer up the arctic winter...

The tie:
#14 Dohiku 301 hook
8/0 UNI thread pink
Coq de León tails
pink Gütermann sewing thread
two pink CDC feathers spun in loop

Silk Thread Buzzer

A simple fly using two colors of the Gütermann silk thread - two olive threads and a single black tied side by side and then wound using the rotary feature of my vice. Otherwise plain vanilla buzzer.

The tie:
#10 stillwater hook
2 threads of olive 1 thread of black silk thread
TMC Aero Dry Wing, tied cross wise for breathers
Black Australian Opossum dubbing for thorax

Anglo - Czech Angling Interactions

The long and distinguished history of fly fishing is full of surprises. I was fortunate to experience one of these by myself. A friend of mine, who was about to relocate from Prague, sold me a part of his large angling library. This included some pre war issues of UK fishing magazine Fishing Gazette. In one of them I was surprised to find an article by Czech fishing author MVDr. Václav Dyk, reporting on the successes of the first Englishmen to fish the Vltava river.

The article was published on June 17^th 1939, and it referred to Mr. Dyk's findings in the records of the domain of Schwarzenbergs in Stožec, dated 1911. The first Englishmen were Messrs. Johnson & Morgan, who visited in 1911 and again in 1912, spending two weeks fishing on each occasion. Their report, as reproduced by Mr. Dyk, reads as follows:

It was interesting to note the things that have changed - and there were a lot of them: the state that Messrs. Johnson & Morgan visited was the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, the state from which Mr. Dyk reported was Czechoslovakia and the country I live in now is the Czech Republic. The village formerly called Tusset has diminished after its German inhabitants were removed after WW II and goes by Czech name Stožec. A hundred years have passed.

But one thing has remained constant ever since the visit of the two adventurous Englishmen: the fishing in Upper Vltava is excellent. It remains one of the premier Graling rivers in my country and I will think of the two early visitors fondly the next time I visit there.

Pork 'n Beans CZ Nymphs

Working on a couple CZ nymph patterns today. Nothing fancy, just plain but nutritious fare to replenish my nymph boxes. A fine way to pass a foul weather day, sitting tight at my tying table, churning nymphs and listening to the History of Rome podcasts.

The tie:
# 8 Skalka Gammarus hook
tan elastic thread
a single layer of flat lead
4 mm golden olive shellback
0.16 mm monofilament spinning line
homemade rabbit dubbing, Golden Olive
homemade mohair dubbing, black
a touch of black CD marker

The tie:
# 8 Skalka Gammarus hook
tan elastic thread
a single layer of flat lead
4 mm brown olive olive shellback
0.16 mm monofilament spinning line
homemade rabbit dubbing, Medium Olive
homemade mohair dubbing, Hot Orange
homemade mohair dubbing, Black
a touch of black CD marker

The tie:
# 8 Skalka Gammarus hook
tan elastic thread
a single layer of flat lead
4 mm brown olive shellback
0.16 mm monofilament spinning line
homemade rabbit dubbing, Brown Olive
homemade mohair dubbing, Claret
homemade mohair dubbing, Black
a touch of black CD marker

A little promo...

Please have a look a the Back Country Journal - a new project across the pond (isn't it funny how the Americans feel it is them who lives on the here side of the Atlantic? :) dedicated to outdoor writings.

Definitely worth a look, not least because the editor deemed worthy of publication a recent story by yours truly.