The Grouse and Green is one of the legion of ‘series’ patterns as it follows the simple, effective and accurate naming convention common to many winged Loch and North Country spider patterns. With spider patterns the name is taken from hackle and body colour, whilst winged Loch patterns follow wing and body colour. The generally accepted ‘series’ patterns are Woodcock & XXX, Teal & XXX, Mallard & XXX and of course Grouse & XXX.
There is also a limited ‘Hecham’ or Heckham series that used the white tipped mallard drake secondary feather or ‘butcher blues’ as they are sometimes known today. It could also be argued that there is a Blae & XXX series but in fairness the blae wing can be from different birds such as starling, mallard and jay.
The origins of the Grouse and Green, like many early Loch flies, are unrecorded. It certainly goes back as far as the middle of the 19th century as the Mallard and Claret, attributed to William Murdoch of Aberdeen, was reportedly introduced circa1840 and was, apparently, a solution to the relatively short wing length afforded by grouse tails. With mallard, larger flies, suitable for sea trout and salmon could be created.
From that, it could be guessed that the Grouse series could go a century or further back in time.
It would be fair to say that most early ‘series’ flies bore only a passing and possibly coincidental resemblance to any natural insect, especially in the sizes that were frequently fished over a century ago. Size 8s seemed quite common and even flies as large as 4s were used in heavy weather. However there are a few exceptions in each series, the Grouse and Green being one. Even in its heavier dressing of the 19th century it, like the Woodcock and yellow or Woodcock and Harelug, could be passed off as a sedge imitation, especially in smaller sizes. Today, with a more contemporary dressing, many of the series patterns could be easily resurrected as useful impressionistic or even nymph/emerger patterns.
Having said that, the Grouse and Green and indeed the whole Grouse series has been superseded, in my fly box at least, by a number of Green Peter variants for sedges and by the Mallard series for the impressionistic role.
A mid-late 19th century Grouse and Green
may have looked something like this..
Grouse and Green.
Hook:8-14 wet.
Thread: Black Pearsalls Gossamer.
Tail: Golden Pheasant tippet.
Body: Green Mohair (in this case) or Seals fur or wool.
Rib: Oval tinsel, silver or gold.
Hackle: Red game.
Wing: Grouse tail.
The Classics: Grouse and Green.
Linear Mode
