Hare and Copper  

Hook:    Tiemco TMC 3769 #10-20

Thread:   Dark Brown 6/0 - 8/0 Depends on size

Tail: Pheasant Tippets

Rib: Copper or Gold Wire

Body: Hare's Dubbing

Weight: Lead Wire .10 - .25

1/ This first step is optional. Apply several turns of lead. Use the finest grade you can get .10 is good. Make only a few turns where the thorax will be tied in. A good ideal would be to do some with no weight, some with .10 and some with a heavier gauge again. Wind a base of thread starting at the rear winding forward over the lad and then back to the hook rear where you started.
2/ Take a small bunch of pheasant tail fibres (3-5 fibres) and measure against the hook shank for length. Your tail should be be of roughly the same size. Tie these in as shown but don't trim the stubbs as these will be used to construct the abdomen or body section of the fly. Once this is completed and looks like the accompanying photo move to Step 3.
3/  Next take a piece of copper wire (I've used gold here) and secure it to the hook at the rear of the fly. This wire should be tied in so that it protrudes out from the rear of the fly and is out of the way of your working space for constructing the rest of the fly. Once this is done trim the excess wire and cover with a few well placed turns of thread.
4/ Next take a pinch of natural Hares Dubbing. You can buy this pre packaged or you can buy the entire hare's mask and make your own mix. Dub a reasonably fine amount at first getting progressively thicker as you add more dubbing to the thread. Make sure you leave some spikier strands in as well. We need a fair bit of dubbing as we will construct both the thorax and abdomen from it.
5/ Now wind your dubbing rope forward toward the hook eye. Try and keep the body relatively tight and narrow with the thorax being muck bulkier just like a real nymph. Feel free to remove or add more dubbing to the thread as you go and take time to tease out some of the guard hair fibres (spikier) to get that buggier look and action. Once finished remove any excess dubbing and move on.
6/ Take the wire and rib the fly. Use between 4 and six turns of wire to reach the hook eye and thread. These turns should be pretty even and reasonably tight. Once you have done this tie off the wire and remove any excess. You may want to add a few more wraps to build up the head. Add two half hitches and fish to sighted fish!

The Pattern

A must have on the South Island of New Zealand. Many Kiwi anglers you run into will only have two nymph patterns in their box. The Hare and Copper and the Pheasant Tail. That is how highly regarded it is as a trout fly. Can be suggestive of both Mayfly and Caddis its simple construction, both in technique and materials needed is a favourite across the Tasman. Back home it is used with good success especially on rivers with lighter coloured stone bottoms although we have enjoyed great fishing on the Goulburn and Swampy Plain Rivers with this pattern.

Should be tied both in weighted and unweighted form. Also add beadheads and flashbacks for something different. One particular version doing well of late features the same fly with a strip of gold tinsel tied in horizontally across the abdomen for a bit of flash. One trick when tying up flies of varying weights is to tie them using a thread colour system. Use different colour threads depending on the weight being added. That way you can easily arrange and locate the desired fly quickly from your boxes. 

Regards

Antony, David and Geoff