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Ross Pescador 6 Pliers

By Scott Richmond

Ross Pescador 6 Pliers. $129 retail. Available at many fly shops and online stores.

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sk yourself is, "Do I really need a pair of pliers for fishing?"

I use pliers all the time. I feel naked if I don't have my Leatherman Juice S2 in my pants pocket (see Leatherman Juice S2 Multitool). When I'm fishing, they go into the front pouch of my waders. Sooner or later, a need will arise and I'll use the pliers part of the tool.

But the Leatherman is a multi-tool, and I'm at least as likely to need the scissors, knife, or screwdriver blades. Does an angler really need anything more than that?

Well, enough think they do that there are some pretty fancy specialty fishing pliers on the market. Most come with an equally fancy price and are aimed at saltwater anglers. If you deal with wire or heavy mono leaders and big gamefish gear, then you probably need something beyond a Leatherman or other multi-tool. And the more things those pliers do for you, the better.

One tool in this category is the Ross Pescador 6. The main mechanism is made from aircraft-grade aluminum stock, so it should hold up to saltwater use. In addition there's a cutting blade and a hook hone. The cutting blade has the cutter at the surface of the handle, instead of the middle, which is much more convenient because you can better see where you're cutting.

A clever innovation is that the pliers jaws, cutting blades, and sharpening stone are all replaceable. You just loosen some allen screws and insert new tools. Of course, "replaceable" also means the allen screws might work loose on their own let a tool or two fall out.

Ross loaned me a pair to try out, and despite long airplane trips and bouncy truck rides, nothing loosened up with all the vibration. Ross seems to have this issue under control, but it wouldn't hurt to check the screws at that start and end of each trip.

I used these pliers for a week in saltwater, with absolutely no effort on my part to clean or otherwise maintain them (remember, they were loaners). At the end, they looked and worked just like new. That's more than I can say for my Leatherman, which needs a little TLC after a week around saltwater.

The balance and feel of these pliers is good, and handles are spring-loaded for ease of use. The price includes a cordura sheath and self-coiling lanyard.

My only knock on these pliers is a major one: the jaws don't always line up. I've looked at several pair of them in different fly shops, and this seems to be an issue with them. The standard in this field is the Abel pliers. They're not as versatile as the Ross Pescador, but the workmanship is better. The Abels are more money (remember, it's Abel . . . ), but when you're paying this much it may be worth it to shell out a little more and go up a notch on workmanship.

Bottom Line: Versatile pliers with interchangeable parts and hook hone. An issue with tolerances, though. Reviewer Rating: 3

Scott Richmond is Westfly's creator and Executive Director. He is the author of eight books on Oregon fly fishing, including Fishing Oregon's Deschutes River (second edition).

Uploaded 03/27/2006.

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Ross Pescador 6 pliers.