Fishing a Mouse Fly for Trout

[Trouser Trout 0]

I'll be on a 2 day trip this weekend in Northern Michigan to do some fishing. I've never tried using a mouse pattern, but have heard they can yield some pretty good results. Seeing as we're getting later in the summer and all of the good hatches have come and gone, I'll be fishing mostly terrestrials during the day, and I thought I might try to fling a few mice out after dark. Is there anyone out there that has done this? And if you have, how were your results? Any tips or tricks would be greatly appreciated as I have never tried this before.

[Bryon Anderson 0]

This biggest thing to remember about mouse fishing is that it's all about the "wake". You want a fly that creates a promineint "V"-shaped wake as you swing it across the current on the surface. That's what the fish see, and they follow the wake to the fly.

 

As far as fly choice, I'd stay away from the very impressive, anatomically correct adorable little mouse patterns with the felt ears, whiskers, eyeballs etc. All the fish is going to see is a silhoutte of the underside of the fly, and by the time it sees that it will have already committed to smashing whatever is creating the wake. A Morrish Mouse is a good pattern - it's just a big gob of deer hair with a piece of thick foam tied in at the bend of the hook, pulled over the top like a shell back and tied down behind the eye with a big "lip" of foam sticking up to make a big wake. In fact, any high-floating bass bug will work--I've "moused" with cork and deer hair poppers and even streamers with big deer hair heads.

 

Presentation: as close to the bank as possible, slap it down and let the current belly the line and swing the mouse out away from the bank. Be ready for vicious strikes! Use as heavy a leader as you need -- 1x or even 0x is not too big. And this is important: if the fish hits the fly but doesn't hook itself, DON'T PICK UP THE FLY. Let it keep swinging--big browns will often hit a mouse once to stun it, then circle back and grab it again to eat it.

 

Where are you going to be fishing and when? My kids are heading off on vacation with their mom this weekend so I get a bonus fishing day, probably Sunday. If you want some company let me know.

[mikechell 0]

Just a thought ... and I hope this doesn't interrupt the responses to Trouser ... but using a mouse has always seemed, odd, to me. I mean, bugs fall into the water all the time. In all my years of fishing, I have NEVER seen a mouse in the water. Rats, yes ... mice, no. And it's not that I am not in the right areas. I hate fishing open water. Given the choice, I am always casting at shoreline structure and cover.

 

So, my thought is, just how many fish that get caught on a mouse pattern have ever eaten a mouse before? I am guessing few. They hit a mouse just like they'd hit any large moving prey like "thing" in the water. Big bugs, injured fry, frogs ... etc. In fact, I'd think they more than likely are hitting the mouse because they've successfully eaten a frog the same size.

 

Again, we humans give them the brains they don't have. "... big browns will often hit a mouse once to stun it, then circle back and grab it again to eat it." (Bryon, I am not picking on you, just pointing something out) This assumes that they "think" there's a reason to stun a mouse. Fish that short strike a fly, usually are just missing it on the first rushing try. They'll circle around and take a second try just because they are hungry or irritated. Sometimes a predator might hit and maim a fast swimming fish, but missed topwater hits are just missed chances.

[whatfly 0]

This biggest thing to remember about mouse fishing is that it's all about the "wake". You want a fly that creates a promineint "V"-shaped wake as you swing it across the current on the surface. That's what the fish see, and they follow the wake to the fly.

 

As far as fly choice, I'd stay away from the very impressive, anatomically correct adorable little mouse patterns with the felt ears, whiskers, eyeballs etc. All the fish is going to see is a silhoutte of the underside of the fly, and by the time it sees that it will have already committed to smashing whatever is creating the wake. A Morrish Mouse is a good pattern - it's just a big gob of deer hair with a piece of thick foam tied in at the bend of the hook, pulled over the top like a shell back and tied down behind the eye with a big "lip" of foam sticking up to make a big wake. In fact, any high-floating bass bug will work--I've "moused" with cork and deer hair poppers and even streamers with big deer hair heads.

 

Presentation: as close to the bank as possible, slap it down and let the current belly the line and swing the mouse out away from the bank. Be ready for vicious strikes! Use as heavy a leader as you need -- 1x or even 0x is not too big. And this is important: if the fish hits the fly but doesn't hook itself, DON'T PICK UP THE FLY. Let it keep swinging--big browns will often hit a mouse once to stun it, then circle back and grab it again to eat it.

 

Where are you going to be fishing and when? My kids are heading off on vacation with their mom this weekend so I get a bonus fishing day, probably Sunday. If you want some company let me know.

 

Bryon is spot on. Only comment I would add is the commercially tied Morrish Mouse usually comes on pretty wussy hooks in terms of gape (i.e. usually 3-4XL hook). Try a good quality stinger hook like the Gamakatsu B10s instead, if you are tying your own.

[shoebop 0]

Here you go Mike.

I have heard of many stories of fishermen catching trout with their bellies full of mice like the picture above. Weird but true!

[Bryon Anderson 0]

Again, we humans give them the brains they don't have. "... big browns will often hit a mouse once to stun it, then circle back and grab it again to eat it." (Bryon, I am not picking on you, just pointing something out) This assumes that they "think" there's a reason to stun a mouse. Fish that short strike a fly, usually are just missing it on the first rushing try. They'll circle around and take a second try just because they are hungry or irritated. Sometimes a predator might hit and maim a fast swimming fish, but missed topwater hits are just missed chances.

Mike, I didn't think you were picking on me. That behavior had been explained to me the way I stated it and I never thought to question it (shame on me!), but you're right about fish not having the ability to reason something out like that. I've also heard that sharks do the stun-it-first-then-eat-it thing...wonder if that's a myth too? You're right, too, about people anthropomorphizing animals all the time--I'm always telling my wife not to do it with the dog, and here I've got fish problem-solving! Your explanation makes much more sense.

[Piker20 0]

Fish definately will strike items at the top to then pick them off at their leisure. I've seen trout do this with crane flies, big caddis and most often with balls of fry. The big fish will slash through a group of fry and then sip off the dead and stunned bodies floating in the film. Best fly during this is a dead drifted deer hair minnow or similar. Anything retrieved is often refused.

The fry are very small so the fish could easily swallow them but maybe the fish find separating one from the shoal harder than just hitting the ball and eating the results?

[Crackaig 0]

Never fished a mouse so nothing to add on that. Fish striking a fly and returning to it I have experienced. I've seen fish act in teams to heard fry into a tight shoal, then bash through them, returning to mop up the causalities. They certainly have enough awareness to do this.

Cheers,

C.

[mikechell 0]

trout and mice.jpgHere you go Mike.

I have heard of many stories of fishermen catching trout with their bellies full of mice like the picture above. Weird but true!trout and mice2.jpg

Holy disease carriers, Batman!!! I never would've believed it if you didn't have pictures.

I've just never been in the right place at the right time, I guess.

 

What the heck is going on there? Paying the Pied Piper to come on the fishing trip?

[Trouser Trout 0]

Thanks to everyone for the responses, hopefully I'll get at least 1 this way, and I'll be sure to post a picture of it if I do. I probably won't be tying any of my own due to lack of time, but I'll just go downtown to the fly shop and see what they've got on hand.

 

Bryon - I'll be going with a few friends to the Rifle River Rec Area early Saturday afternoon, just for a quick over-night trip. We'll be leaving to come back early Sunday morning. If you're going to be in the area, one more definitely isn't going to hurt - plenty of river there to fish. Or if you want to fish on Sunday, I'll probably still be unsupervised and have some time to go again. Let me know.

 

Mike - I also would have never believed it but a co-worker of mine suggested mousing, and that peaked my interest so I did a little searching. That brought me to here to see if I can could get some first-hand knowledge of how to fish these little critters.

[shoebop 0]

My Brother-in-law and I are fishing a "Midnight Derby" in a few weeks on the Au Sable River. It is a "one fly" event and I will be fishing a mouse pattern. I hope I get some action. Night time is the right time to fish a mouse.

[Fly Fishing Russia 0]

Just a thought ... and I hope this doesn't interrupt the responses to Trouser ... but using a mouse has always seemed, odd, to me. I mean, bugs fall into the water all the time. In all my years of fishing, I have NEVER seen a mouse in the water. Rats, yes ... mice, no. And it's not that I am not in the right areas. I hate fishing open water. Given the choice, I am always casting at shoreline structure and cover.

 

So, my thought is, just how many fish that get caught on a mouse pattern have ever eaten a mouse before? I am guessing few. They hit a mouse just like they'd hit any large moving prey like "thing" in the water. Big bugs, injured fry, frogs ... etc. In fact, I'd think they more than likely are hitting the mouse because they've successfully eaten a frog the same size.

 

Again, we humans give them the brains they don't have. "... big browns will often hit a mouse once to stun it, then circle back and grab it again to eat it." (Bryon, I am not picking on you, just pointing something out) This assumes that they "think" there's a reason to stun a mouse. Fish that short strike a fly, usually are just missing it on the first rushing try. They'll circle around and take a second try just because they are hungry or irritated. Sometimes a predator might hit and maim a fast swimming fish, but missed topwater hits are just missed chances.

 

I have seen a little mammal swimming across a river several times, and twice it was grabbed and eaten by a fish. I had also dissected a 5-pound lenok (Siberian trout) with 10 voles and shrews in the stomack.

 

Some fish (taimen, lenok) stun their prey on the surface with a tail, then turn around and grab it. I have seen this many times. The biggest fish I have landed after a "tail-strike" was 52-pound Siberian taimen. The time gap between the 1st boil (I had seen the red tail) and the pull on the line was about 4 seconds. The fly was a 5" long deerhair mouse.

 

Probably some big brownies also use their tail first?

[peerless reels and bamboo 0]

Check out the movie "Once in a Blue Moon"

Robert