Recently I tied a bunch of steelhead flies for a program and the recipe for several of the flies called for wings of polar bear hair. The polar bear I have is legal and I used it. Now I’m not looking for any endangered species argument, animal rights blah blah, ‘shoulda used **** as a substitute’, or other moral claim against the use of the material. I’m simply inquiring about the use of the fur closest to the skin: Has anyone used this fur for dubbing? If yes, do you mix it with any other fur, something soft like rabbit to make it easier to spin? Any particular patterns?
Allan
I use a lot of polar bear and cannot throw away the underfur… I use it for dubbing a lot, both alone and with other stuff added. In split thread it is an amazing material with lots of “build” and it really looks good underwater with tremendous gloss and light-catching. It literally glows in the right light.
For props on Intruders where a ball of dubbing supports the hackle it is unrivaled.
I often tie the Alaska Mary Ann with a dubbed body of PB to go with the PB wing.
A local shop has a complete, 100% legal hide which will be sold (in small pieces) starting soon.
One ting I have found when buying PB is there is a difference in it’s former use. In '75 I bought a small section from Rumph from his barn in PA. The hair is long with nice under fur. A few years ago PB was coming back on the market through various sources. This hair was from rugs and clothing and had been sheared. The long beautiful fibers where not there. It is still usable but not the same. Just sayin.
Actually the bear is the same, no shearing involved… It is just the location on the hide that the particular piece was cut from. The stuff along the sides of the paws is ridiculously long and the farther toward the back you go the shorter the hair. I have a bit of hair that is at least 10" long.
I have used Polar Bear for a long time and still do. The Polar Bear I have can be tricky, it’s very hard and extremely slippery. When tying it in as a wing, I was taught to keep a little of the under fur at the base as it provided purchase on the longer harder hair. Either that or use the Hass style for winging my flies. The extra under fur is excellent dubbing material, almost seal like.
wcglass
Polar bear is something I haven’t used in years. I know someone who has a full skin, and he parted with a little for me to tie him some pike flies. It is one of the nicest hairs I have worked with. At least the piece he gave me was. A couple of things that I found useful tips were.
Tie 2 sizes of fly together. A large one and a smaller one next. I usually prep for a dozen at a time so I would count out six of each size of hook. Tie the large one. Use the longest hair for the wing as normal. Then tie the smaller one using the hair that you stripped out of the first bunch for the wing. The under fur you are left with goes into a tub to make dubbing. (I use this with Arctic fox on salmon flies as well).
To really lock the wing in place use a locking turn. This does away with the need for glue in the wing roots. All you do is take a turn around just the wing after you have tied it in with a couple of turns. Then tie that turn down. It puts a small kink in the hair and makes it very secure. If you want the wing to stand up a little from the shank, like a Scandinavian salmon fly, make your locking turn wing side of the turns you initially tied it in with. If you want a low wing make the locking turn around the butts of the hair and tie down before trimming off.
Now I just need to work out how to “liberate” the rest of that skin!
I’m not sure but I think that it’s illegal to bring polar bear from Canada to the US. Actually, I’m really not sure what makes some polar bear legal while other pieces or skins are not. Anyway, although it’s not easy to find, there are some sources that state that the product they are selling is legal here in the states. Costly.
A friend picked up some patches in Barrow, Alaska, that were sold with a small hole and a small key chain attached. These pieces were signed by the native craftsman (lady). The hair is beautify.
However, when my friend checked with US Fish & Wildlife, he was told that although the the sale was legal and that he can own this “native craft”, it would be illegal for him to “repurpose” the material into flies…
So, you just can’t win… Nor is it worth the trouble to try! HA!
In order to be legal the bear had to be killed prior to the Marine Mammal Protection Act which went into effect in late 1972. There are old rugs being pieced out every once in a while when they get too ratty for display, or the owner passes and the heirs do not want it, or whatever. Old stuff varies a great deal in quality because it has been around for so long.
The paperwork when you can find a bunch is easy or hard!! I got mine from a guy who bought out an old fly shop and the hide was on the wall - it was cut up and the paperwork on his end and mine was actually easy as the bear was taken in the late 1930’s prior to the law - and it made the paperwork easier.
You can use the under fur as is just be careful when grinding it up - works really well in a dubbing loop by itself or mix with other stuff.
