Elk hair for mouse

[Noah Huebner 0]

I wanted to get going on a mouse fly.  Just went to the store and they have nothing.  I have plenty of elk body hair, though.  Is this sufficient for a mouse?  Thanks.

[Guest]

Welcome NH... Gobs of mouse patterns around.  Traditional stack and pack deer hair,  elk?, trimmed or fur and foam creations.   Some try to exact copy a mouse others focus on how they look swinging on a drift or  twitched along.   You mentioned mouse, ducks are you fishing for pike or musky?   Here’s my “BabyNutraRat” fly, 7/0.

You can use the elk hair to substitute rabbit or squirrel strips I suppose and use foam for some.    Stack and pack your elk hair sounds like what you wanta do.

All these pics are already on here.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[skeet3t 0]

If fished in fast water, accuracy in form isn't real important. A mouse pattern fished early AM or late PM will bring up some big fish.

FWIW, a university professor in wildlife management spoke to our TU chapter several years ago. The question was raised about striped bass eating trout. Necropsy showed a few trout inside stripers but the surprising thing was a baby duck. So...get the baby duck out of the kid's bath, tie a hook on it and fish!

[Noah Huebner 0]

48 minutes ago, denduke said:

Welcome NH... Gobs of mouse patterns around.  Traditional stack and pack deer hair,  elk?, trimmed or fur and foam creations.   Some try to exact copy a mouse others focus on how they look swinging on a drift or  twitched along.   You mentioned mouse, ducks are you fishing for pike or musky?   Here’s my “BabyNutraRat” fly, 7/0.

You can use the elk hair to substitute rabbit or squirrel strips I suppose and use foam for some.    Stack and pack your elk hair sounds like what you wanta do.

 

Those look great!  I was hoping to fish for pike with ducks, and bass/trout with mice. 
thanks

 

8 minutes ago, skeet3t said:

If fished in fast water, accuracy in form isn't real important. A mouse pattern fished early AM or late PM will bring up some big fish.

FWIW, a university professor in wildlife management spoke to our TU chapter several years ago. The question was raised about striped bass eating trout. Necropsy showed a few trout inside stripers but the surprising thing was a baby duck. So...get the baby duck out of the kid's bath, tie a hook on it and fish!

understood.  That’s interesting about the necropsy, I’ll have to try that idea! 😊

[flytire 0]

2 hours ago, Noah Huebner said:

I have plenty of elk body hair, though.  Is this sufficient for a mouse?  Thanks.

short answer

yes

[Noah Huebner 0]

8 minutes ago, flytire said:

short answer

yes

Does it have the same floating ability that deer hair has?  Thanks

[Noah Huebner 0]

Here it is.  Please critique as you see fit.  I put a piece of red chenille on the hook first after coating the shank with a layer of thread.  Then I put foam around the hook shank. I then put brown cdc on the sides to pulse and act like legs at the same time.  Then I wrapped the whole thing with muskrat fur.  I put some elk hair on top to finish.  It looks like crap from above, but I’m hoping that in the water it will act as kinda a stimulator type of thing.

[skeet3t 0]

19 minutes ago, Noah Huebner said:

Here it is.  Please critique as you see fit.  I put a piece of red chenille on the hook first after coating the shank with a layer of thread.  Then I put foam around the hook shank. I then put brown cdc on the sides to pulse and act like legs at the same time.  Then I wrapped the whole thing with muskrat fur.  I put some elk hair on top to finish.  It looks like crap from above, but I’m hoping that in the water it will act as kinda a stimulator type of thing.

Cast it out and hang on! Hear the best time for mouse patterns are early morning or late evening.

[Noah Huebner 0]

2 minutes ago, skeet3t said:

Cast it out and hang on! Hear the best time for mouse patterns are early morning or late evening.

Okay.  Great.  Thanks!

[Noah Huebner 0]

[mikechell 0]

Big ugly flies often catch the biggest, ugliest fish!  Good luck!

[Noah Huebner 0]

9 minutes ago, mikechell said:

Big ugly flies often catch the biggest, ugliest fish!  Good luck!

Awesome.  Thanks!  Going to try it this weekend.

[Poopdeck 0]

This is not meant to be mean. You asked for critiques So I assume you would want honest critiques to help you grow as a fly Tier. If not please read no further.

A mouse pattern is not a pattern a beginner should begin with and is a difficult tie for the most experienced tiers. I will only highlight the fact that the hook gap is important in catching fish and you can't bury it in a stiff fly. A positive one can take from this fly is your desire to learn. Just don't skip any steps in the learning process. 

As a beginner you should focus on tying beginner flies such as green weenies, San Juan worms, Wooly buggers and many others. After mastering the most basic of flies you can move on to intermediate level flies and then up to the complicated.  This is how you learn the rather simple techniques needed to tie more complicated patterns like a mouse. 

Good luck. 

[Noah Huebner 0]

17 minutes ago, Poopdeck said:

This is not meant to be mean. You asked for critiques So I assume you would want honest critiques to help you grow as a fly Tier. If not please read no further.

A mouse pattern is not a pattern a beginner should begin with and is a difficult tie for the most experienced tiers. I will only highlight the fact that the hook gap is important in catching fish and you can't bury it in a stiff fly. A positive one can take from this fly is your desire to learn. Just don't skip any steps in the learning process. 

As a beginner you should focus on tying beginner flies such as green weenies, San Juan worms, Wooly buggers and many others. After mastering the most basic of flies you can move on to intermediate level flies and then up to the complicated.  This is how you learn the rather simple techniques needed to tie more complicated patterns like a mouse. 

Good luck. 

Okay.  Thanks for an honest response.  I will work on some more beginner flies, and hopefully work my way up to some more complex flies.

thanks

Noah

[flytire 0]

i tried squinting, moving my head to the left and then the right but i just couldn't see a "mouse" 🐭

i would recommend you begin by learning some basic techniques of fly tying and then tying some easier patterns

start slow and make continuous progress

pick 3-5 flies that are known to produce in the area you fish in and tie those patterns until you're confident with the results and the look like the representative photo of the flies you've chosen