Polar Bear is great and I have quite a supply of it, (ie)story commin) When
guiding on the Alagnak in Alaska, I had the pleasure to guide Peter Barrett,
outdoor writer for Field & Stream. He moved, by the way, from Florida to my
present state of Idaho upon retirement. Some months later Peter wrote an
article about a fly called the THOR. The Thor is a steelhead/cutthroat
pattern like the old, standard ties,(ie)tail, body, collar and downwing of
usually hair. Peter wrote the article with a strong slant towards the Thor
being one of the greatest all-around flies ever constructed and dynomite
results when used for everything from blue gills to king salmon. He called
me at home, one day, and asked if I'd like to tie commercially and if I'd be
willing to be listed as one of the sources for obtaining the Thor. I
agreed, the article was printed, and there I was, at the end of the article,
listed next to Koffman's and Orvis as a source. I was besieged with
requests from all over the planet. Some wanted the Thor tied weedless for
bass. Peter called and asked how the orders were going and I told him I was
having trouble keeping up. He asked me if I had enough polar bear for the
wing. Polar bear?!! I told him I had very little and that I had
substituted calf tail. "Oh no!" was his response, "That's the success of
the Thor, the polar bear wing!" Arriving in the mail was a huge patch of
polar bear.
Creative Angler in Spokane has polar bear that they sell in patches. Jack
Troutman is the owner. I stop and talk to Jack at the International
Sportsman's Show. He always has a booth. Jack used to live in the Kirkland
area. Someone in Spokane that he deals with, has a license to obtain polar
bear. Creative Angler is a wholesale supplier of fly tying materials and
tools. We used to do business with them when I was at Eddie Bauer. My use,
and I am stingy, is to use a small amount in the wing, and then include
pearlescent flashabou, or another synthetic along with it. The best quality
hair is WHITE. Much of it, when found, is a dingy yellow. Jere
----- Original Message -----
From: Richard Embry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, November 17, 2000 7:49 AM
Subject: Re: Unidentified subject!
> A substitute for polar bear? Sure . . . try polar bear. :-)
Seriously,
> to me, polar bear is tough to beat, and don't worry about using yours;
there
> is legal polar bear for sale here in the U.S., in case you run out.
>
> Richard
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Pat Bolton/Seattle/IBM <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Date: Thursday, November 16, 2000 6:19 PM
> Subject: Unidentified subject!
>
>
> >Thanks for the pix, Justin. And thks for the flies, guys! Ray...question
on
> >your spey style carey...hackle of the one I got is "multi-length" with
the
> >longest fibers about 1.5 to 1.75 X shank, and slightly barred. I've been
> >looking at spey hackle options (want to tie some of the McNeese, Chinn,
> >style speys). Can you tell me specifically what you used for the "dark
> >version"? I've read about burning the hackle with bleach to get the
fuzzy
> >stuff (Deke Meyer's book on steelhead talks about doing this with
> >heron...which I think is something no one's supposed to use), but haven't
> >tried it, and wouldn't mind avoiding that process all together if I can
> >find something else with the right movement in the water.
> >
> >Also, any tiers have good recommendations for polar bear? I got a small
> >patch of natural and want to think about it before I take the scissors to
> >it. Any info or sources of ideas, especially on spinning the short hairs
> >for dubbing?
> >
> >On the water front...it's been way too many weeks since I was out, but
I'm
> >heading over the the peninsula (Quinnalt area) over the Thanksgiving
> >holiday, any body got any ideas of what might be hot or even some smaller
> >stream action?
> >
> >Pat Bolton (NWF)
> >
>
>
>
>
