Red Fox Pelt Uses

[dontheo 0]

My cousin just sent me a red fox pelt he shot in the lat 50's. It was tanned and is really awesome. I have always had a few patches and a tail laying around as inventory I collected for tying but have never found a need to use any. Now I have this pelt. The guard hairs down the middle of the back looks like wood chuck I use for tailing. The underbody is really soft and I guess would make good dubbing? The skin that was tanned is kind of fragil so I thought I would cut it up. Any ideas for uses? I tie mainly dry flys.

 

Thanks

[BassMouth87 0]

The main reason I purchased a red fox pelt was for foxee clousers, and mixed media flies. Red fox fur also works well for crayfish flys, and I have seen it in a few salmon patterns. As far as for dries I am not to sure. I collect all my scraps and save it for dubbing but have not done enough experimenting to know if its a good wet or dry dubbing mix.

[tidewaterfly 0]

It's a far better dubbing for wet flies. It's more like rabbit in that regard. It's a great material for subsurface flies, and as Bassmouth has said, particularly for crayfish patterns. I like the natural colors, but also dye some. If the hide will handle it, it makes some nice Zonker strips too. Fox hides are usually rather thin, and with it being that old, it may not be ideal for Zonkers, but you won't know until you try a few. It's a good alternative material for any small streamer patterns. I like it for anything smaller than a size 6.

[dontheo 0]

Your right, the hide is thin and at that age no good for zonkers. I guess with it being so fine you would use more then if you were tying with buck tail on a streamer? I can't find much on the web about it or any patterns. The rust color looks like Australian Opossum I use a lot of.

[BassMouth87 0]

Here are a few patterns that I mentioned above,and a few I did not:

 

http://www.flyfishohio.com/Foxee_Red_Clouser.htm

 

http://www.flyfishohio.com/Mixed_Media.htm

 

http://www.flyfishohio.com/Twisted_Fox.htm

 

 

I know that I have been getting my box of fox ready for this year, foxee clousers are deadly on just about everything that swims, steelhead, trout, bass, pan fish, carp.

 

 

[tidewaterfly 0]

I guess with it being so fine you would use more then if you were tying with buck tail on a streamer?

Not necessarily. You can tie rather sparsely with fox. There will be much more underfur with it than with bucktails, but it's finer texture is IMO better for smaller size flies. Just remove as much of the underfur as you desire, so you're tying primarily with guard hairs. I keep the underfur when I do this as it makes very good dubbing.

 

Bassmouth, those are some very fine looking flies & excellent examples of what I'm talking about!

[BassMouth87 0]

Tide: Thank you very much, fox is a fur that I love tying with, here are a few of my fox crayfish patterns:

 

[My4Kiwis 0]

Here is one tied a few years back for a swap down in NZ using a red fox tail...basic clouser style.

 

Cheers,

4Kiwis