Piscari-Fly : The Green Peter Daddy

Monday, January 24, 2011

The Green Peter Daddy

Green Peter- Daddy

TAFI All Ireland Lake finals Corrib

Most lake anglers understand that it is a combination of many things coming right on the day to win a competition. Things like the right line, leader and a good boat man are all many factors in getting it right, skill and belief plays the biggest part of success of course but for me one thing is as equally important and that your flies and the way they are dressed. It is fairly easy nowadays to find out what’s working where before any event on any venue, but it’s the ability to develop patterns and add or adjust patterns that will give any angler an advantage over his or her fellow competitors.

The red assed green peter has been a successful fly for many years and has suffered many changes good and bad but the core dressing of the fly remains the same. Fishing on Lough Corrib last September for two days before the TAFI All Ireland, trout were hard to come by, they were coming up to look but not taking the fly and it was very frustrating indeed. During the evenings while sitting in Mikes Bar in Ballindiff, myself and two fellow fly tiers Albert and Martin Mc Quaid were sampling some beverages and tying some of the above Green Peters along with some other flies that would hopefully break the duck. The tying of the fly is fundamentally the same as any Green Peter but some components are slightly different. The red ass is tied with Gleamy Dubbing which very importantly does not change colour or shade when wet, also the dubbing for the body is Blend dubbing which has a slight fleck that gives the fly a suttle sparkle. Over the two days preparing for the competition all the trout that came up for my flies all came to the GP Daddy but there was no hook-ups.

On the morning of the competition driving over to the starting point I decided that I would stick with the Green Peter Daddy even though it had not landed a single fish and just keep my flies in the water and hope for that bit of luck. After seeing the draw I knew another factor had fallen into place I had drawn a good boat man that was prepared to travel to find fish. The Daddy was tied on a size 10 and is quite bushy, it was a good top dropper fly and that’s where it fished for the day. After several unsuccessful drifts finally I hooked and landed a good trout on the Peter Daddy, with confidence up all the necessary factors came together and I landed four good trout and rose fish for the entire day all coming to the Peter Daddy. My boat partner from Munster also had Green Peters up all day and failed to catch a single trout along with a lot of other people that were fishing that day.

To my delight four trout were enough to take first prize on the day but there is no doubt that the Green Peter with legs and a glowing red ass won the competition that day.

Enjoy tying your Green Peters and other patterens but don’t forget the little things can really count.