As many of you know, we are big fans of simple streamers that don't take all day to tie. The Polar Spey was born out of a need for a lightweight, flashy fly that we could crank out quickly before heading to the river. Once you get the hang of attaching the trailer hook, the fly goes pretty quickly and is easy to tie from there. In most cases we prefer swinging an unweighted fly using a sink tip to help get it down, and tying the fly unweighted helps keep the design simple and the time to tie it minimal. The combination of fox, flash and saddle really breathes in the water and provides plenty of action. It's a great choice when swinging for fall runners, and we like to fish it a lot this time of year during high water as well!
Step 1: Place shank in the vise and begin laying a thread base, firmly closing off the return wire on each end.
Step 2: Cut a piece of Intruder Wire about three inches long, feed both ends through the eye of the hook, then loop around the hook shank and pull tight.
Step 3: Tie the wire down on the shank with a few wraps, then adjust to desired length of about 1.75" from the eye of the shank to the back of the hook. Wrap forward over the wire to the return eye on the shank, then fold the wire tags back and wrap down. Coat evenly with thread and then with glue.
Step 4: Move thread to the middle of the shank, and tie in the fox tail so that the tips extend about a half inch past the hook.
Step 5: Tie in about three strands of SemperFlash on one side of the tail, then fold it around the hook and tie down so you have three strands on either side of the tail. Trim to the same length as the fox.
Step 6: Tie in a section of Gold UV Polar Chenille and make about three wraps and tie off. Pull the fibers back as you wrap and then make some thread wraps over the base of the flash to keep the fibers swept back.
Step 7: Repeat Step 6 with the Rusty Copper UV Polar Chenille.
Step 8: Tie in a saddle hackle feather by the stem, leaving some of the fluffy fibers at the base. Wrap as many wraps as possibly, moving forward as you wrap to fill the remaining space up to the eye. Tie off the feather and trim any excess.
Step 9: Make some thread wraps back over the base of the hackle fibers to keep them swept back over the Polar Chenille. Whip finish and trim thread.
