Use Of Polar Bear Hair

[eatsleapfishrepeat]

Im just wondering what polar bear hair is typically used to tie. ive heard it makes awesome streamers, but other than that i havent heard anything.

[headscan]

I use it for Clousers and intruders. I think you could probably use it to replace buck tail and similar furs on most streamers and probably traditional wet flies as well.

[daxlarsen]

This is a question in the form of a statement for tying purposes lol. But I was under the impression that polar bear hair is hollow for insulation purposes and I would expect because of this trait that it would be useless for tying streamers. is this partially correct? and are there certain parts of the hide that don't posses these hollow properties, or is it a negligable amount of hollowness?

[headscan]

I think the hollowness is negligible, especially since so many streamers have dumbell eyes and coneheads or lead wrapped hooks. Elk and deer hair are hollow as well and are used in bow river buggers and muddlers.

[jonn]

No it makes great streamer wings, it's very durable. I know South Bow has a bunch of pike flies made with polar bear. The under fur is probally the best material to use to create a dubbing ball. It's really course so your feathers won't collapse in the current.

[eatsleapfishrepeat]

i think ill have to try tying some baitfish imitations with it as well as some clousers.

[SilverDoctor]

polar bear has an incredible sheen, makes great streamers. I add it of dubbing for great depth to bodies.

 

[Leroy]

I use polar bear foralmost all of my personal steelhead flies. I use very little of it because when I use up what I have on hand, it is gone. Very hard for the tyers here in the states to get their hands on good polar bear.

[Conor]

If you chop up the underfur and mix it with dubbing it has a great effect.

 

I don't think it is hollow at all; not the patch I have, at least. It is hard to cut it with decent scissors. Super durable and a little translucent. It is my favorite streamer fur, but I don't really use it that often. I have some issues with the harvest of apex predators, so I don't think I could bring myself to buy it. I am dreading the day I run out!

[nextdevills]

guess its hard to come buy and expensive but could be used as a parachute post could it not?

[eatsleapfishrepeat]

it probably could be but like you said it is hard to come by so i use ep fibers for posts and it works well.

[headscan]

guess its hard to come buy and expensive but could be used as a parachute post could it not?

Not really sure why you'd want to. The thing with polar bear is that under water it looks different than a lot of the other hair and fibres you can get because of the sheen Doc mentioned. If it's just a parachute post that's above the water it won't look significantly different than buck tail or whatever other post material you use.

[ogilvie]

A little Insight into Polar Bear hair....

One of the or perhaps the most bouyant Natural hair on the Planet.

Translucent in a big way..great light defraction

not hollow like elk,deer,moose and so on.

Accepts dies very well that doesn't bleed

And best of all..Canadian..our cousins south of the border have to use Buck Tail unless they have friends this side or can get some certified supplies which is difficult to get.

Polar Bear Dubbing mixed with Seal and other natural fibres is simply the best.

At the Recent fly fishing show in Calgary I had more than 250 small packets of Polar Bear in over a dozen colours and lengths,was surprised at the lack of interest..however, I realize that here on the west coast we use Polar Bear so much for Salt Water flies that it is only natural for us to require that as a staple for fly tiers.

Here are a couple of small Salt Water patterns that can be used in both Salt and freshwith great results,,note teh transparency of the White Polar Bear hair on the Kathy's Coat..this is a great Coho patetrn but crosses over very well

[593257002]

Im just wondering what polar bear hair is typically used to tie. ive heard it makes awesome streamers, but other than that i havent heard anything.

You can use it instead of deer hair to flair out the other materials. I use it to make pike flies because it is more durable than deer hair.

[ogilvie]

During the days that I will be at South Bow Fly and Tackle I will have a lot of different coloured Polar Bear hair with me and will tie a good number of Minnow and Steelhead patterns with the different colours....Polar Bear is indeed very durable..I wonder why!

For those of you familiar with Bucktailing on the Ocean for Coho and Chinook then you will be familiar with what historically has been Polar Bear hair Streamers tied very long,up to 6 and even 7 inches... certain areas of the animal have very long hair..this is very sought after these days as the supply of Poalr Bear dries up...

C