Uses for muskrat fur??

[Istripbuggers 0]

So I just picked up a couple small patches of muskrat fur, ones off the back and ones off the belly. I'm not really too sure what to use em for quite yet. the belly patch looks like awesome dry dubbing but the back has a lot of guard hairs.. Any ideas would be appreciated, I tried using the search engine on this forum but to no avail (maybe because I'm on an iPhone?!)..

 

Thanks,

Miles

[Crackaig 0]

The immediate two patterns that spring to mind are the Adams and the Casual Dress. The guard hairs can be used for tails on dry flies and nymphs. You are right about the under fur making great dry fly dubbing. It is also useful on soft hackle flies in very tiny quantities. You should still be able to see the thread through the haze of dubbing.

 

The easiest way to separate the under fur from the guard hairs is to use a dubbing rake. If you vary the angle of the rake to the skin you will get different mixes of under fur and guard hairs off the skin.

 

Let us know how you get on.

Cheers,

C.

[utyer 0]

Muskrat was the original material for the dubbing on the Adams body. It isn't the best floating fur, but it will work for dry flies (just use floatant.) I usually blend mine with some gray acrylic yarn for dry flies. The darker fur from the back works out quite well for a lot of nymphs. The Casual Dress, and Muskrat Nymph are just a couple. I use it for the head area on crane fly larvae, and as the head on Al's Rat (midge,) patterns. Dub it in a loop and brush it out after wrapping for a nice woolly worm like pattern. If you use natural charcoal turkey marabou, you get a really nice gray woolly bugger.

[Istripbuggers 0]

Thanks guys, I will give those a try! It was pretty cheap at sportsmans warehouse so I figured why not.. Just more materials to feed the addiction..

[tidewaterfly 0]

Also, depending on the patch, if it's tanned or not & from where on the pelt it was cut, Muskrat cut into strips, like Zonker type strips can provide some interesting effects for streamers. You can use a strip as a tail, such as on a bugger in place of marabou or tied Zonker or Matuka style as the back of a baitfish or on large nymphs. Think in terms of large HEX or Dragonfly nymphs. It dyes fairly easily too, particularly the belly fur.

[mybadhabit 0]

They also make great dubbing for sowbugs, and the guard hairs can be plucked out by using your thumbnail and index finger, it doesn't take long to do a sizeable area.

 

Blane

[troutguy 0]

I have notice something with muskrat, beaver and otter. Utyer reminded me of it. If you can get you hands on a naturally dried or Boraxed skin they work better for dry flies. The commercially tanned furs do not seem to have the natural oils.

[m_grieb 0]

I have never really thought about that, troutguy, but that makes complete sense, seeming how tanning does take all the oils out.

 

Matt

[sculpinmaster 0]

I love muskrat fur. I mainly use it for dry flies and emergers. Dubbed thickly for for a more solidly coloured body or with a thin wisp of fur over yellow or primrose thread/silk for a translucent body ideal for baetis (olives).

 

This is an Adams style Klinkhammer.

 

[Will K 0]

Muskrat nymph as others have noted... and use that as a gateway to all of Fran Betters patterns!

 

Others have noted good patterns as well..

 

And I'd suggest, using the old imagination to tinker and generate your own patterns.

[JohnP 0]

My pal DUBBN turned me on to a very simple and effective soft-hackled fly that has a brown hen hackle tail, dubbed muskrat body and brown hen hackle collar. It has caught fish for me in three states, both moving and still water. I like it best in sizes 14 to 18.

[Al Beatty 0]

Hi Miles,

 

You already got good responses. You might consider bleaching a muskrat patch to a cream color and using it for lighter colored flies like PMD's OR taking a bleached patch and dying it to other colors like olive. An olive over-dyed on the cream color make a really good looking golden olive color. Take care & ...

[bowfin47 0]

In the deep south, a.k.a. Louisiana, the local squirrels, both eastern gray and/or fox squirrels, tend to lack much, if any, underfur.

 

When making homemade dubbing blends with our local squirrels, there isn't enough underfur to tie the spiky, clipped squirrel hair together. So, we have to add other finer furs to our dubbing blends to hold everything together. Muskrat works very well for that application. For this application, I much prefer to use muskrat or beaver in my budding blends than rabbit...

 

Bowfin47