Peter Ross Inspired

[sqerl]

I've always perferred streamers when there was little dry action. Most of the trout I've caught recently have been on bucktail patterns and the black-nose dace has been my goto fly.

Always looking to improve, I wanted something with a bit more flash and a little bit of color. So I made a red-nose dace pattern (same as black nose, just red thread for the head). But I wasn't really satisfied with the look.

Then I discovered the Peter Ross pattern. Although similar to the Bloody Butcher and Silver Butcher, this creation was inspired by the Peter Ross. There may be other patterns that are similar*, but thats where the my inspiration came from...
*-(found an 'incredible minnow' pattern that looks a lot like the Peter Ross, but was created in 1965. The Peter Ross has been around for more than 100 years)

There is a little bio of Peter Ross below as well as the traditional ingredients...

This is a size 8 hook, black and white buck tail with some black and white synthetic material tossed in for some extra flash, silver tinsel body and red dubbing for the throat... I didn't have any golden phesant tail, so a small bit of marabou was added for the tail.
This is a first draft and will likely be modified as I get a bit more efficient with my tying.

The following was from:
http://flies.flybox.info/Wet/Winged/Peter_Ross

Country of Origin:Scotland
Water Type:River & Streams / Still Water
About Peter Ross: Peter Ross, a store keeper in Killin, Perthshire, developed his namesake "Peter Ross" as a variant of the Teal & Red in the 1890s'.

His creation has become, over the last 100 years, one of the very best lough, lake, stillwater fly patterns.

Works well singlerly and as the point on a team.

Dressings
Hook : 8 - 14
Thread : Black
Body, Front Half : Red seal's fur
Body, Rear Half : Flat silver tinsel
Rib : Fine oval silver wire
Beard Hackle : Black, hen or cock
Wing : Barred teal breast feather

 

[JeffK]

I have had very good luck on wild browns on the upper SBR with Peter Ross flies in 12 and 14.

 

[sqerl]

Cool! Glad to know someone else has used them... I've never really looked at European flies until I stumbled on a website... Lots of of great patterns and it's easy to see how they must've influenced American tiers...

 

[JeffK]

I am somewhat on the traditional fly bandwagon, but not as much as some. Here is what I have learned:

If a fly is still around after more than 100 years it probably works. Color combos from those old flies can be effective on newer fly styles.

The old English flies (or any old European ones for that matter) were tied for heavily fished wild brown trout - don't think our wild browns are too smart for them. (the old flies do have limits though).

People the world over have developed ways to catch tough fish - we can learn from all of them. Czech and Polish nymphing are now popular for good reason and our fly roots are in England, but everywhere there are trout someone has figured out how to catch them. Great flies come out of the Balkans where they have been fly fishing since at least the time of the Roman Empire. In most of Europe people eat all the trout they catch and the survivors of a few centuries of this are no fools (both predator and prey).