Polar Express

[Guest]

A new addition to the fly pattern database has been submitted by luvinbluegills:

 

Polar Express (click link for more info)

 

[Guest]

This streamer has been responsible for my biggest ever Hybrid Striped Basses, including this 10 pound plus beauty. It fishes like a fly rod Sluggo, and I've found it best to let it handle the action most of the time. What I mean by that is to let it dead drift brings more strikes than actively working it. I just give it a small twitch here and there, and when I say small I mean I try to do the bare minimum required to make it move, because as the water catches the materials, they come alive.

 

My favorite material to make this streamer with is Polar Aire, but for some reason I'm finding that few shops are carrying this excellent material, so substitute what you will. You're looking for a long, flowing, very supple material that can provide bulk without stiffness. As soon as I pick up some White Polarfibre I'm going to see how well it behaves using that for the whole fly.

 

I've tried fly fur, but its fibers are much shorter. Another nice thing about the Polar Aire is that, and I say this without hard evidence aside from the twisted up condition of the fly each time I catch something on it, is that I think it gets caught a bit on the fishes teeth, aiding a hookup. This tying style is very durable. I'm still using the original streamers I tied over two years ago and have caught many fish on. That's why there's rust on the upper streamer in the photo.

[Steeldrifter 0]

Mark I REALLY like this one :headbang: I've been working on some baby rainbow patterns for this spring and add a little red/pink fiber to this one and it would be eaxctly what I have been trying to go for!

 

I will have to see if I can find some of that polarfiber.

 

Great looking fly :headbang: :headbang:

[TerryLee 0]

I've been experimenting with a similar type of fly but I've been using Wing 'n Flash Angel Hair and Hanked Lite Brite. I haven't been able to get the shape the way I want it, but I think your step by step may have helped me there. I hope I have the same kind of success you have had!!

 

Terry

 

 

[Joe Hard 0]

Nice flys, and great step by step

[fly time 0]

that thing looks like a great all around fly!!! nice tie :headbang:

[dafack01 0]

That is DEFINITELY on the "must tie" list. NICE fly!

 

When I tie up some, I forsee many Smallmouth, Trout, and Hybrids caught on that thing. Hopefully a few bonafide Striper, too!

[Guest]

A new fishin' buddy just tied up a bunch and relayed a problem that he was having which is somethign I'll add to the recipe and should've thought of before. You have to soak this streamer before you use it in order to get it to sink well and imediately. I just hold it under water and squeeze the air bubbles out. Once you've done that, it'll dive easily. It's a good idea to squeeze the water out when you're done with it too, 'cause it will be holding some.

[Nightstalker 0]

Do you think substituting ice fur for the polar aire will work or should I try a different option

[Guest]

Hi Nightstalker,

 

some of the best ties have come from experimenting, so give it a shot! Polar Aire has become my favorite material for this, but that doesn't mean others won't work, and might work better due to a given set of circumstances.

 

Give it a shot and let us know!

[Adirondack 0]

yea nice fly! it does kind of look like tom hanks

[nomad 0]

Do you know of any websites where I can get some polar aire, I have to tie this pattern.

[Guest]

nomad,

 

for some reason it's become scarce on the shelves of most shops as a regularly stocked item, probably because there's always something new coming out, but here is the link to Spirit River's description page. They are the makers of Polar Aire.

 

J. Stockard may be able to get it in for you, so give them a shout. After doing a search I found that there are several companies that use the name Polar Aire but are unrelated to fly tying.

 

 

 

While we're on the topic of searches, I found some other nice recipes y'all may wanna try.

 

Rainbow Smolt (by a certain someone whose name will ring a bell)

The Marengo Tube Minnow (from a brother website, Online Fly Tyer.)

Used in a Caddis dry

For the Steelhead angler!

A leech

Yellow Belly Mackeral (Tied in the style I used here.)

 

 

If for some reason J. Stockard can't get it for you, I'd suggest checking your local shops and asking them to order it from their supplier. I did find a couple of online outlets offering it, but wasn't familiar with them so couldn't really vouch for them.

 

This may be a good topic for me to do a write up on!

 

 

edit: Looks like the same phenomenon of appear/disappear struck this other Polar Aire named product!

WHATEVER BECAME OF....

 

Some years ago, about twenty - now that I bother to tally them up - I remember reading some glowing accounts of a new product which was being introduced to the always-eager world of air conditioning consumers.

 

It could have been called Polar Aire, I suppose, because it was a basic concept swiped from Mother Nature who outfitted the polar bear with hair that is actually like a slender tube leading from the black skin surface to the clean air. The result: a cooler polar bear. Wafted about by body action of the bear and by the wind and turmoil of an active lifestyle, each hair acted as a channel moving hot air to cooler areas.

 

The inventor had duplicated the structure of the polar bear hair and mounted a four-by-four foot collection of such air-hairs in a pad in the roof of the house where they would cause hot air from the attic to be released into the air above the house. A small fan in the edge of the hairy array, urged it to do so faster.

 

It was touted in the "New Products" section of some of the many trade publications of the industry for a few weeks, then, apparently shunted side and forgotten. I bring it up now and then and people are really surprised. They have very little trouble accepting the fact that the structure of polar bear hair is rather unusual and might well been used in air-conditioning, but they cannot bring themselves to believe that such a white bear has black skin.

 

By this time I expected to see our rooftops bristling with bear hair, by someone must have decided it was not good for Santa's reindeer to graze upon such artificial stuff. It is amazing how we can adapt ideas from Nature. Nettles and burrs became paper clips and Velcro cloth; even air conditioning apparatus – early Indian inhabitants of the Luray, Virginia area are said to have inserted sections of hollow cane through the mountain walls to channel the cool air from the many underground caverns of the area... 57-degree, year round temperatures - into their hillside caves, shelters and and hogans.

 

[nomad 0]

Lovinbluegills,

 

Thanks for all the info and patterns, I hope it didnt take up to much of your tying time. Its guys like you that make us newbies successful.

[Guest]

aw shucks... *blush*

 

I've got more variations to come!