Polar Bear fur

[Saltybum 0]

Bill to post photos use the "More reply options" then you can drop them in from your pc and skip the photobucket step.

 

Here's a couple bear flies tied from pb I got from calling the number josephsyvia posted. It is legit.

Went out and water tested them earlier and caught an 18" trout with the top one. Guess they work.

 

[mikechell 0]

"What? No, I am not the reason Polar Bears went extinct!" Says one of uncountable numbers of people who blame everyone else.

"I only bought a little piece of hide!"

 

With an estimated 25,000 maximum count, there is NO reason why anyone would NEED to buy Polar Bear Fur.

 

http://www.polarbearsinternational.org/status-and-threats/polar-bear-status-report

 

Even if 1/10 of 1/10 of 1% (0.01% or 700,000 people) of the population bought some Polar Bear ... that's still about 28 people per bear alive. How long will it take to reduce the PB population to unsustainable levels?

 

But, who cares ... as long as you can tie a fly that catches a fish.

Of course, other materials will do that, too ... but that's beside the point.

[oldtrout58 0]

[JSzymczyk 0]

oh for God's sake. Fly Tyers are not going to have any effect on the polar bear population. Never have, never will. The poster above summed it up nicely. I'd be willing to wager there has not been ONE polar bear ever killed solely with the intention of using it's fur or hair for fly tying.

[FIN-ITE 34 0]

I think that both the Canadian and US Wildlife Service folks have a better idea of what will and will not be the demise of the polar bear.

[Saltybum 0]

If you call John Wait ( the guy with the hides ) he'll tell you his hides are from the 70's with all documentation. Apparently the old hunters die and no one has a need for huge bear rugs they left behind with their moose heads etc. Who knows, who cares except that these are definitely NOT fresh kills like the squirrel who gave up his tail a couple weeks back.

[Ol'DirtyCaster 0]

Mike, your gripe is with the Inuit, and unfortunately they're going to continue to kill polar bears, gill net atlantic salmon, and club seals regardless. I love seal fur too : )

[mikechell 0]

Yeah, you guys are right.

It's one of the reasons I never had children, anyway. No kids means I don't have to care what the world will be like after I die. My only wish is that the next mass extinction is humans ... and the animals can re-inherit the Earth. I'm gonna go kill a few songbirds for colored feathers tomorrow.

[Ol'DirtyCaster 0]

Yeah, you guys are right.

It's one of the reasons I never had children, anyway. No kids means I don't have to care what the world will be like after I die. My only wish is that the next mass extinction is humans ... and the animals can re-inherit the Earth. I'm gonna go kill a few songbirds for colored feathers tomorrow.

That's the spirit!

[PJ2 0]

Yeah, you guys are right.

It's one of the reasons I never had children, anyway. No kids means I don't have to care what the world will be like after I die. My only wish is that the next mass extinction is humans ... and the animals can re-inherit the Earth. I'm gonna go kill a few songbirds for colored feathers tomorrow.

The next mass extinction? lol. I was hoping it would be swans.. i hate them.

[Saltybum 0]

Mike are you one of W.C. Fields illegitimate kids. He hated kids too unless they were baked, fried or boiled in oil, then he liked em just fine.

[Ol'DirtyCaster 0]

The bear drawer.

[josephcsylvia 0]

I seriously see a shoot out here, a lot of people say there are suitable alternative options, some people say its worth every penny,

 

we need some hard numbers here, someone should tie the same fly in polar bear and another in a comparable material and fish them both alternating for a couple outings and give us the numbers!!!

[Ol'DirtyCaster 0]

 

There are suitable alternatives, but pb has a diaphenous quality that makes it unique. Seal dubbing has similar characteristics. I doubt there's a single fish in the sea that can distinguish between bear or anything else when they're actively feeding. The approach, the presentation, and the profile are important. The fly itself is a small part of the equation. Let's face it, we all know folks who catch plenty of fish on hideous flies.

[Piker20 0]

Agree with Dirty. The translucent qualities of seal and polar bear is found in few materials. Lets be straight, if it was then we wouldn't try to use material that causes such strong opinions.

Does the translucent properties appeal to fish? Well these patterns have survived hundreds of years in some cases which proves to me the materials in them are better than other materials around at the same time.

This is how patterns evolve. You tie an Adams and it catches fish. You tweak the pattern with UV this and flash that and alternative colours and it doesn't match up, you return to the original proven materials.

Sometimes we stumble across something better and then that becomes the goto type.

 

If you believe in UV properties of materials and the effect on fish than again the reason certain materials have stood test of time is born out by the likes of Reed Currys book which shows materials as we believe fish see them.