Hares Mask!!!!

[haresearnotthere]

Ok, so I've got a Hares Mask, very nice it is as well. Just one question?? What the bloomin' heck do I do with it now?? Which are the guard hairs?? Do I need a fur rake to separate the fur from the mask. It did seem like a good idea at the time.

Tony

[greenock]

UKFlyDressing - Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear

[haresearnotthere]

Thanks Mark, so do I just pull the hair off the mask, and which are the guards hairs??

[danielp]

If you pull a lump of hair out the long stiff hairs are guard ahirs and the soft bushy ones are underfur. Different areas of the mask have different ratios of the two and different lengths and suppleness of guard hair so are useful for different parts of the fly.

I use the cheeks to form the abdomen on larger flies as the long soft hair helps make a nice neat tight abdomen and the bit between the nose and ears for the thorax as there are lots of stiff dark guard hairs to make it nice and buggy.

Another tip is to rip a chunk of fur out and holding it by the tips pull away some of the fur from the bottom, this should mainly be underfur and helps to create a buggier fly if it is removed.

p.s. dont ignore the hair on the ears themselves

Dan

[haresearnotthere]

Thanks Dan, that makes things a little clearer.

[greenock]

What Dan said will see you fine. More you use the mask you'll find what mix you like.