Ma, git the gun! Somethin's in the henhouse!

[Hopper]

I acquired a mink from my neighbor's chicken coop this weekend. Beautiful black luxurious fur!! Do you guys have any special flies that mink fur works well for? I can't tell if it is very oily or not, would have exceptional buoyancy qualities, etc.

Hopper

[Fishin' Junkie]

I've never used mink, but I'm sure you kind find a use for it. Why not cut it into strips & dye some mink zonkers? I'm still trying to get another squirrel to take on my car for the same reason. Good luck!

[Jason]

Mr Hopper, hook me up? I've got a patch of mink that I've been playing around with for the last year and have found that the guard hairs are awesome for nymph tails and trailing shucks. Mink is very similar to bunny or squirrel, but the under fur does have a unique texture, almost like possum. As for bouyancy properties, I have no idea. Good question. If you can get that thing nice and tanned, I'll take a patch from you if don't mind. :-) I'm sure I could swap something for it if you're interested. What color is the mink? Dark brown? Black?

[Larry S.]

Joe Evans uses it in his "E-Merger" for the thorax, guard hairs and all.

[Norm]

I'll never forget the smell of the mink farms and the smell of the workers around this time of year. That stench is imprinted in my head till I die.


Norm

[Hopper]

It is jet black. I just sliced off a 4X4 inch patch and set it in the garage to dry. The rest of him is already in the garbage (sorry). I spoke with Mickey at Fishtech this AM, he said you can use the guardhairs for lots of stuff as well. He thought the underfur was pretty coarse, would make a good stonefly thorax. I'll have to play around with it I guess. I don't tie a lot of jet black flies except a few drys. Might be a good color for the Uintas, various generic buggy looking nymphs or wet flies.

Thanks for the input!

Hopper