It’s pretty well known that one of the most exciting and fun ways to catch fish at Alaska West or fly outs from Rapids Camp Lodge is mouse fishing. It really does get the heart racing. One of the issues with mouse fishing is “bumping” fish. Bumping fish is when a fish want’s your mouse but can’t quite get it in its mouth. There are numerous reasons this could be happening but one theory is that the majority of mouse patterns now are foam based. The foam just doesn’t get sucked in as easy as some of the old deer hair patterns. This is particularly noticeable if you get grayling attacking your fly.
So if you’re having success at finding lots of slashing and sucking fish to your mouse pattern, but they just aren’t sticking……change your normal mouse pattern up to a deer hair based mouse. It may just make the difference between a few fish and a lot of fish coming to hand. Oh……and squeaking as you work your fly seems to help as well!!! lol!!!!
Written by Stuart Foxall prolific fly tyer, experienced fly fisherman and Friend of Deneki Outdoors.
Other posts about mouse patterns
Great article from the legend (foxy)
Thanks very much for dropping us a note Justin, we’re pretty fond of that foxy guy as well. Thank you very much for the good words and we hope you continue to enjoy our content.
All the best,
The Deneki Team