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Fly Tying

> Mink hair!

Roguerat	April 9th, 2012, 12:18 pm
Posts: 74	I just acquired some Mink, one tail and a fair-sized strip of pelt with medium-brown fur. Are there any patterns that call for Mink dubbing? The stuff was free from a good non-fishing friend and I'd like to incorporate it into some flies, somehow. The Roguerat I Peter 5:7 'Cast your cares upon Him...' the flyfishers'verse
Wbranch	April 9th, 2012, 12:23 pm
York & Starlight PA Posts: 1066	You can use the longer hair for down wing patterns like caddis and stone fly wings. Cut out an appropriate sized clump for the hook size and with your thumb and index finger of your other hand gently pull out the short, fuzzy, under fur. Then if you want you can take the remaining longer and stiffer fibers and put them into a hair stackeer to get the ends all nice and even.
	Catskill fly fisher for fifty years.
TNEAL	April 9th, 2012, 4:26 pm
GRAYLING. MICHIGAN Posts: 112	Put "the mink thing" in your search bar and go... you'll find a pattern that was first mentioned back in the 70's... a teriffic "nymph"....
Martinlf	April 9th, 2012, 6:04 pm
Moderator Palmyra PA Posts: 2105	Some use it for dark shucks.
	"He spread them a yard and a half. 'And every one that got away is this big.'" --Fred Chappell
Softhackle	April 9th, 2012, 7:34 pm
Site Editor Wellsville, NY Posts: 540	ROGUE, Wbranch hit the nail on the head. Len Wright's Fluttering Caddis was originally tied using hackle fiber wings, but Gary LaFontaine suggested using mink instead. It works very well. Check this out in Gary's CADDISFLIES or Wright's FISHING THE DRY FLY AS A LIVING INSECT. Mark
	"I have the highest respect for the skilled wet-fly fisherman, as he has mastered an art of very great difficulty." Edward R. Hewitt Flymphs, Soft-hackles and Spiders
Entoman	April 9th, 2012, 9:52 pm
Site Editor Northern CA Posts: 2028	Also good to use a little under the hair wing of an Elkhair or similar design to simulate the translucent hind wings. I think we're talking about tail hair though and Roguerat is talking body fur.
	"It's not that I find fishing so important, it's just that I find all other endeavors of Man equally unimportant... And not nearly as much fun!" Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Fisherman
Martinlf	April 10th, 2012, 8:22 am
Moderator Palmyra PA Posts: 2105	And I should have specified guard hairs for shucks. In particular one Iso pattern I've seen calls for it.
	"He spread them a yard and a half. 'And every one that got away is this big.'" --Fred Chappell
Birdsnestfl	May 27th, 2012, 12:22 am
Santa Cruz, California Posts: 1	I love the "mink thing" fly that I found in a late 70's issue of Fly Fisherman. It's a nymph that I tie in size 10 through 18 on wet fly or scud hooks. Just make a dubbing loop, stuff a sparse noodle of mink dubbing in the loop, and wrap a tapered fly, slim toward the bend, thicker at the front. I prefer GSP thread, white or gray. That's it; no rib, no head, nothing but thread and mink. Do not remove guard hairs; it should be sparse and messy. Make dubbing by trimming mink off the hide, throw it in a coffee grinder, and give it a quick zap, or use your own method of blending fur. Do not use dyed fur; it lacks translucence.

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