As a trout angler I tend toward wee traditional-style flies most of the time, so it’s a leap for me to offer a trout fly meant to simulate a mammal. The EZ Mouse was originally inspired by a film I saw about taimen fishing in Mongolia. The Mongolian guide caught and skinned a lemming, stuffed the skin with foam packing peanuts, and sewed the whole thing onto a hook to create a damn realistic (and great-floating) lemming fly; then the lucky client used it to catch a giant taimen. Six-foot-long trout. Inspirational stuff. So I thought to replicate the taimen adventure, slightly altering the methodology by simulating a critter more appropriate to the water I fish.
Besides that, the little mouse fly is just too cute.
But there’s nothing cute about trout large enough to want to eat a mouse, or the way they’ll eat it. I suspect the idea of fishing a mouse appeals to my dark side — the side that lurks on the bank at night, casting blind, lasciviously skating the mouse, anticipating an ominous bulge followed by an infuriated Creature from the Black Lagoon suddenly busting from the inky stream to crush the hapless mousie.
Funny thing is: that kind of nocturnal behavior often occurs on water so technical in daylight there is a slim chance that same fish will even sniff your fastidiously presented size 20 BWO fished on a 20-foot leader.
We generally associate mouse lures with bassing, and it is true a hair mouse is an essential in the f lyrodder’s bassfly kit, but a swimming mouse can also produce thrilling night fishing for large brown trout, big rainbows (results on a local secret spring creek do attest), and bull trout as well. I suspect the imitation might work anywhere there are sizeable trout and active mice present, regardless what species the trout. A mouse is always worth a few casts after an evening hatch has ebbed into darkness and you’re not quite ready to leave.
I know a hard-bit night-trouter who does well with what looks like just a ball of clipped deer hair. Considering a hair mouse design, though, I wanted something that would fairly satisfy my aesthetic opinion on a swimming mouse profile, while being easy to tie without a lot of hair packing and trimming. I’d also seen painstakingly tied realistic mouse patterns, yet was skeptical it was necessary to go to such lengths on a pattern mostly fished in the dark. I experimented with a few designs, some ill-conceived, some okay, and eventually opted for the simple version featured here. It gets the job done as well as any.
When bassing, I’ll fish a mouse around cover any time I think they might hit top water. Mouse-eating bass aren’t nearly as discerning or light-sensitive as brown trout.
Trouting with a mouse is pretty much a nighttime affair, dusk into dark when the big boys go on the prowl, particularly nocturnal brown trout. Quieter side water affording no cover during daylight can be productive after dark. Throw a well-greased mouse up against a far bank in frog water and fish it with short pulls and twitches. Hang on. You might be surprised to discover what you’re not likely to see in daylight.
Materials
Hook: Light-wire hook, size 4
Thread: Your choice
Tail: A single saddle hackle — I don’t think the tail color is important
Body: Deer hair
Tying Instructions
Step 1: Wrap the hook shank with a couple layers of tying thread, tie in the tail, and apply cement.
Step 2: Tie in a clump of deer hair about mid-shank and arrange in a thick collar around the hook shank, hair tips extending slightly beyond the hook bend.
Step 3: Tie in another clump of deer hair as a collar half way between the rear collar and the hook eye, tips extending back to about the middle of the rear collar.
Step 4 (optional): Tie in two foam ears. Ears probably are not necessary, but I added them. They’re cut from orange art foam. Pink might be cuter. And try to avoid the urge to pin over-sized ears on this pattern. Real mice don’t have Mickey Mouse ears.
Step 5: Tie in another clump in front of the ears and spin it to the hook eye. Whip-finish and trim to a mousy head shape.
To fish the finished mouse, soak it with floatant, then let it dry before using. It will float nearly forever.
