Patterns made from mink

[thorarinna]

Hi.

I happened to get my hands on dark brown mink.
I have been looking around but haven't found any patterns for trout made of mink (or dark brown hair).

Maybe I could use some patterns for Hare, any ideas?

Thorarinn.

[FishnDave]

I haven't looked THAT closely at mink fur...but I'm wondering if you think you could use it for patterns calling for Pine Squirrel?

[mickalo]

Mink underfur is an excellent dubbing material, with or without the guard hairs.

Any pattern calling for muskrat, beaver or otter fur can be tied with mink. One big advantage of mink is that it comes in a very wide variety of natural colors from beige to coal black and all shades of brown and grey in between.

In addition to its outstanding dubbing properties the guard hairs can be used for tailing dry flies. The guard hairs from mink tails are especially useful in that regard and a clump of them, stripped of the underfur, makes a very attractive hairwing.

Mike

[Panman]

If you go to Hans W's site there arepatterns that call for mink. Just type in "mink" in the search feature.

Tim

http://www.danica.com/flytier/index.html

[Joe Billingsley]

Like Mike said, the guard hairs make beautiful hairwings. They are stiff and slippery, though, and tying in a relatively large bunch can be difficult. After seeing A.K. Best use a few hairs for an underwing on downwing patterns, I've been doing that and they look great. They are shiny and reflect light beautifully. They make a great substitute for antron or zelon for that purpose if you would rather use natural materials.

Joe

[Bluegill222]

I've got a pair of hides at home that I'm going to cut in strips and use on zonkers and slumpbusters. Don't know how it will work, but you never do until you give it a shot. I got them cheap because there were a couple small bald patches so it won't be too expensive an experiment.

[Steven]

Guard hairs make nice tails.