Hare's Ear Nymphs For Carp

We have all heard the saying about flies being designed to catch fishermen instead of fish.  Generally I believe that is not such a bad thing.  Purpose built carp flies such as the Backstabber by Jay Zimmerman, Mark's outrageously beautifully carp flies at This River is Wild and my own creations sometimes bring a little extra confidence and that is priceless.  Are these flies imbued with a magic mojo that appeals in a special way to carp and triggers a take?  I don't care.  Catching a carp on a carp-specific fly brings me confidence and intense pleasure.

Every once in a while a reality check is good though.  When the carp seem to want something small and subtle I usually go straight to a Hare's Ear Nymph.  If I was good enough at keeping a journal I might even find that my most productive carp fly of all time is the Hare's Ear in multiple variants.

I have caught Carp on many different recipes of this infinitely flexible nymph pattern.  Throw in a gold bead and you have a weighted fly with a little flash.  Add a black tungsten bead and you are ready to dredge the depths.  In colored water sometimes adding a flash-back can't be beat.  Do you really need a little bit of that carp-specific luvin feeling?  Some fine Rubber legs do the trick.  Are the fish ultra-shallow and super spooky?  A very simple un-weighted variant in natural colors without even gold rib could be the ticket.  

I usually stick to size 10 to 14 and my most productive colors have been olive and the traditional tan.  

The Hare' Ear Nymph.  It turns out that nearly everybody has a couple carp flies in their box!