The Mink fly SBS

[mro]

The first half of my SBS is OK, but the second half, not so much due to my inexperience taking photos for this particular application.

I had just enough white mink zonker left to ty one, so I can't have a "do over" right now for the pics that are more confusing than informative.

When I get more material I'll revisit this page and update it.

My Mink Fly is an articulated streamer tied from a couple inches to 6 inches.

In my mink box of flies I also have a few that are not articulated. When you see the 5th pic, you can see how it's a ligament fly on it's own.

Mink fur (compared to rabbit) is finer and the pelt is thinner. Both of these contribute to the fly's action.

Note, when tying in strips they can be trimmed if desired after tied in.

 

Mustad 34007 2/0

1 1/8" articulated shank

mono tying thread

 

M1, bottom part of tail

M2, top part of tail

 

 

 

[mro]

Step three is adding sides to the tail.

Then a little flash.

 

[mro]

 

 

 

[mro]

Ty in a strip and palmer forward a couple wraps, add flash,

couple more wraps and flash again

 

 

[mro]

At this point, on longer shank  hooks than 34007 I ty in 4 more strips just like the tail, top/bottom and sides. For this ty I wrap the mink to the hook eye and ty it off and attach the articulated shank.

(You could just fish this without articulating it, add eyes or dumbbells)

 

 

 

 

[mro]

Next step, ty in 4 strips of mink just like same as the tail on the hook.

Ty in a longer strip and palmer forward, stop and add a little flash between some of the wraps.

 

Any type of head you can ty on a streamer you can ty on this.

I used nichol/chrome eyes on this one.

 

 

[mro]

I change to a colored thread to finish the fly.

When wrapping the mink, you can stop at anytime and add some flash. You can moisten your finger tips and stroke the fur forward/back so that the pelt is exposed, make two thread wraps w/o trapping the fur and then two more thread wraps in front of it. Now you can add flash which can be orientated literally all round the fly poking out top/bottom/sides. The palmered mink will hold the flash at any angle you want. 

 

This version uses 10 pieces of mink. The next size up I ty uses 13 pieces as two wraps before the eye  I ty in 4 more strips just like the tail. 

 

I've got a box of marabou streamers and another with rabbit zonkers...

boxes of deceivers and seducers' etc...

as long as I've a mink at hand they never get used 

Most catchingist fly I've ever tied.

 

 

[BrianBM]

How well does mink shed water? Does it get obnoxiously heavy quickly?

[mro]

Even my largest mink fly casts well. Looking at my fly some will think it's "too full" and should be "sparser" tied but all that fluff is finer/lighter than rabbit. Like it better than game changers.

 

The lightest rod I use for these is an older St Croix Legend Ultra 5wt  (Trout/Black Bass/occasional striper),  then 7 to 9wt for stripers, salmon, steelhead. Stripers and black bass like the big ones, salmon and steelhead the shorter unarticulated ones. Small Mouths I use the black ones.

 

wet mink fly pic

 

 

[mro]

BTW, you see how it scrunches up wet.  When at the pause when stripped it fluffs back out, slightest current makes it move.  The very first one I tied I brought up to my dads. On the dock I wanted to see how it would look in the water so I tied it on then dropped it in the water where I expected to give it a couple twitches with the rod... with lead eyes ... it floated

[flyman28]

3 hours ago, BrianBM said:

How well does mink shed water? Does it get obnoxiously heavy quickly?

My thoughts too! 

[saltyh2ofly]

You know there is a Fly Tying Board ...very nice fly. 

[Suave]

Mro: thanks for posting that and, having done a couple of sbs with pictures, one posted on SOL and the other for friends, I know it's time consuming. And I like your fly and will tie some if I can get my hands on mink fur strips up here (did a search and found two fly shops that have them but there seems to be a shortage in both the white and black ones).

 

A few questions if I may:

   - the barbell eyes on the Mink flies you posted pictures of here and on the Striper flies for a frien" thread on the Fly Tying Forum are all tied on the top of the hook shank. How does the fly swim, hook up or hook down? I think  it doesn't really matter, at least in terms of the profile of the fly which should be about the same one way or the other but I'm just curious;

   - lenght of the "tail": I suppose it's just a matter of the overall lenght you want for the fly or is there some rapport to the lenght of the hook it's tied on?;

   - when you tie a second set of mink strips (top-bottom-sides) either in the middle of the shank of the hook on longer hooks or at the rear of the articulated shank as shown above, how far to the rear do the top and bottom strips extend? to the middle of what's been tied so far?;

   - what are your favorite color schemes for this fly when you target stripers.

 

Thanks.

Edited January 31 by Suave
Omission

[mro]

The fly rides with the hook down as more material is tied above the hooks shanks center. The 2 top strips are also the longest strips.

 

The tails length: top strip up to  the length of the hook.

No set rules on this fly.

 

The forward top strips are shorter than the tail top strip. 

The bottom forward strip is tied so the fur on the end of the strip is just short of the hooks bend.

 

Day to day striper fishing, white has been the best color even in water where water visibility is only a few feet, (3 1/2" to 6" long).

Dark over cast days I've done well with the black plus small mouths seem to like it too.

 

I have tied it with a few other colors as well as mixing a couple.

Just have never gotten around to fishing them.

 

 

[mro]

On 1/31/2023 at 6:21 AM, saltyh2ofly said:

You know there is a Fly Tying Board

 

I was expecting to find it in the fly fishing section...

book marked it so I don't have to search for it.