Thought you might be interested in this. I have always thought that fly tiers might be an overlooked market for trapped furs. Anyone else ever done anything like this before?

I've used and caught fish on flies tied with more fur, feathers and artificial materials one could ever imagine. My tying supplies are in dozens of storage containers. I don't even know what I have any more. Some materials just get popularized because of availability and salability IMO. Strangest material for me was site tied flies using blue lupine flowers for mountain lake cutthroats in Montana. Hundreds of flies to try and it was only pattern that caught anything. Only problem was one flower - one fish, and we only found one plant still blooming. Fishing is like trapping do enough of them and you experience some ODD things. It's always fun thought to be able to make use of the things you have harvested.

Yep. Why do you think they call an elk hair caddis that? Or a gold ribbed hare’s ear? Or a bucktail streamer?
In fact the underfur of several furbearers are used as dubbing for fly bodies, muskrat is used for several nymph patterns underfur of a bear makes a good leech pattern and a strip of hair on tanned rabbit skin is necessary to tie a zonker and some sculpin patterns. Several old fly patterns call for exotic fur such as seal and polar bear that of course is no longer available so synthetic materials must be used. But the synthetics rarely MOVE in the water like
the real thing. If I had to guess how many elk hair caddis I have tied in the last thirty some odd years it would be more than a couple hundred. And the number of trout, salmon, grailing, walleye, pike, bass, and crappy that have been fooled by my concoctions would be… many.

On the boat I keep a can full of 1”x 2” scraps of tanned beaver fur and leather soaking in fish oil. If for some reason I run out of bait when fishing cod they work well.

All the Walleyes I catch are on Buck Tail jigs poured,,painted and tied myself from my own Buck Tails.

I tie some of my crappie jigs with white hair from my wife's little dogs tail. She saves it for me when she trims the dog every few months.
I'm sure bear fur would work for something. I used squirrel tails when I was a kid and have bunch deer tails in my tails in my jig tieing box.
Biggest problem I can see with using any wild fur. Just like every other nitch market. Once you get the flies to sell. Both flies and fur would be easily flooded with products. So like hatter market for beaver up and down..

Mac

"Never Forget Which Way Is Up!"

The first skunk I caught in a fox trap way back in high school comes to mind. At that time my friends and I molded and tied our own bucktail jigs for walleye. To save on supplies I used the skunk tail for jig bodies. It worked every bit as good as deer tails which were hard to come by back then. I'll be 75 in October and I see hair jigs for walleye has made a big comeback the past several years.

I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself:)

My wife doesn’t have any white hair but I do. I’m going to try this.

When I was a kid we had a collie running around the farm. He donated a lot of white, sable, and a little black for my bass streamers. He never seemed to mind the little bald spots.

I like bear hair for my clousers. They are my number one go to for fishing streamers for bass and lakers. I like to tie my “MT clouser” for lakers. Perch imitation. Mountain goat hair for the belly. Preferably and brown/blonde phase bear hair for the back with some flashy stuff mixed it. I also like marten tail hair for my smaller clousers I use for smallies.

One thing I want to try next year is raccoon fur for pike flies. I currently use this stiff called Finn raccoon fur. Its like a bunny strip, but way more volume for a bigger profile. Its also pricey. I think some strips of the belly or side of a american coon would be great and a good color,l too

I won't tie a grey drake without beaver belly underfur.

Most fly tying dubbing material is made from beaver fur, it is dyed in many colors.

I'm going to tell the girls what you said.. LMFAO

You might get bitten violently about the ankles by all three.. LOL
The little on the right might just be a gremlin. But one in the middle is most dangerous.




Mac

"Never Forget Which Way Is Up!"

D.T. That’s a good looking yellow perch. Love the clausers for specks and redfish too.

Awesome

Cod is black and green
Salmon is red., pink or green
Surgeon is flat bait sitting on the bottom not spinning