Lab Rat mouse pattern

[retrocarp 0]

Very similar to the Sydney opera mouse.

[ditz2 0]

I like to tie deer hair bugs but I also like using craft foam. Some of my favorite flies use craft foam and I would like to tie a couple of these foam mice to throw at some bass. I am curious as to what craft foam you use. Is it the common 2mm? How do you make the little ears cup? How are the eyes attached?

 

I am with ole Vic.....I also miss the lilly pads. There are some this far south but they are a lot more sparse here than in Indiana and I have seen any in my area though I know Reelfoot Lake as some large pad beds.

[FlaFly 0]

To be sure, the hair-stacked mice and other things are beautiful, but a lot of us are more interested in an easily tieable lure that we can fish with, and this is a great example.

But now, the sticky question: what does it matter that it looks like a mouse? From the top and front, it looks enough like a mouse to us, but from underwater, I suspect it's just a glob of something that moves and has a tail that moves seductively, and that's enough for the bass. When it comes right down to it, mice are not aquatic, so it's lot likely that mice are a recognizable and usual prey to a bass. I'd guess most bass have never seen a mouse, and probably never will. They won't look at this lure and think "I remember eating one of those once, and it was good".

[userx 0]

To be sure, the hair-stacked mice and other things are beautiful, but a lot of us are more interested in an easily tieable lure that we can fish with, and this is a great example.

But now, the sticky question: what does it matter that it looks like a mouse? From the top and front, it looks enough like a mouse to us, but from underwater, I suspect it's just a glob of something that moves and has a tail that moves seductively, and that's enough for the bass. When it comes right down to it, mice are not aquatic, so it's lot likely that mice are a recognizable and usual prey to a bass. I'd guess most bass have never seen a mouse, and probably never will. They won't look at this lure and think "I remember eating one of those once, and it was good".

Im actulaay more interested for mousin at night for big brownies. Which supposedly are voracious mouse eaters.

[johnnyquahog 0]

There was a story on the net last year of a rainbow trout that was found to have twenty five or was it twenty seven mice in it's belly. There are tons of images of mice swimming. I don't know why any respectable LMB would not have eaten several as well as a few trout that are still digesting mice.

[mikechell 0]

Consider that mice, like most mammals, require daily drinks of water. Add to that the tiny size, and the need to possibly hang from weeds and sticks to reach the water. If one out of every 500 "drinks" results in a mouse in the water ... that still makes up a bunch of mice. I'd bet that field mice have provided many a meal for any fish large enough to eat one. In areas where the only way to reach the water is to crawl out onto the weeds and reeds over hanging the water ... probably more than 1 in 500 fall in.

[retrocarp 0]

http://globalflyfisher.com/patterns/sydney-opera-mouse/

[Tim Shovel 0]

 

 

See you could spend an hour spinning deer hair perfectly or you could do this and get the same result, fantastic fly, only thing I don't like about it is that it wasn't my idea:)

Tim, you're right about that...BUT...there's something about the guys who can turn deer hair into works of art that can't be surpassed. Tho the foam rats are great and will do the job they're not going to go under glass just to look at like a couple of flies I've received from the deer hair guys.

 

And Sharkster that is no way meant to take away from the great design you've developed. I'd gladly set out mouse traps if I could catch a couple of those for the bass in the ponds around here. What we lack here is lily pads. I miss them so much from my time in the north it's hard to deal with virtually no vegetation to fish around. I used to fish lilies and made them a second home on some of the waters I fished.

Totally agree, not discrediting deer hair flies, I attempted a deer hair mouse, not pretty, it takes a great deal of skill, I'm just congratulating him on his ingenuity.

 

Also mice are strong swimmers although not fast they can move around effectively in the water

[Sharkster 0]

I was fortunate enough to watch Chris Helm spin a deer hair mouse, and I have that very fly in my collection. Deer hair is most definitely an art. I find it really time consuming. This mouse can be tied in a third of the time or less. And when it gets beat up, I'm ok with throwing it in the bin.

 

Thanks for the compliments, no offense taken either.

[flyonline 0]

I came up with something very similar a year or so ago, but I tie mine with a pink face so that it stands out in low light/shade.

 

I've found that the scrap feathers from a cock pheasant rump works excellently, but have recently started using cross cut zonker strips from craft fur patches as it's quicker and easier. Tied in sizes from #2 up to #10/0.

 

 

 

Steve

[FlaFly 0]

Those are cute. ne thing I wonder, if a mouse is in the water, its little paws would be dog-paddling (or mouse-paddling) rapidly. I don't recall ever seeing a mouse lure with moving feet. Any ideas?

[mojokayak 0]

Those are cute. ne thing I wonder, if a mouse is in the water, its little paws would be dog-paddling (or mouse-paddling) rapidly. I don't recall ever seeing a mouse lure with moving feet. Any ideas?

Lynch's White Bellied Mouse. Had good success on bass last year with it.

[mikechell 0]

I did a couple of deer hair mice with pink yarn "feet". I didn't get any more responses with those than I did with the "easier" mice without the legs.
Without the "proof" of extra hits ... I don't bother putting legs on them anymore.

[flyonline 0]

Those are cute. ne thing I wonder, if a mouse is in the water, its little paws would be dog-paddling (or mouse-paddling) rapidly. I don't recall ever seeing a mouse lure with moving feet. Any ideas?

 

Thanks, it's taken a bit of evolution to get there.

 

I've seen videos (search youtube) and real life swimming mice (and we have large 2' water rats incl tail down under) and their little legs go like heck. Not sure they're needed specifically as I think fish see the movement rather than key in on the feet. That said, the flowing feathers and craft fur do a good imitation as it keeps moving after the fly stops and I've had fish hit the fly some time after a strip. Mind you I've had a fish hit a pink gutless frog 20 sec after I stripped it when I put the rod down

[Stevester 0]

10/0! That's not a mouse, that is a muskrat.

 

Steve