Mouse Fly pattern ???

[tie one on]

Simple question for any of you that may have tried tying a Mouse Fly, or are an expert at tying them.

I tied a Mouse Fly the other day & tried it this past Saturday while fishing for Smallmouth. I had grabbed a larger Bass hook I found at my tying bench & proceeded to stack & pack lots of deer hair. ( I tied it with the hookpoint facing upward just in case I fished a area sometime with lily pads.) After the fly was completed I trimmed up the bottom with a razor, added some eyes & it didn't look too bad.

My question is : After fishing it for a while I noticed that the fly no longer sat upright on the water. At first, it sat perfectly with the hook upward, but later it sat on it's side. I did try some dry fly floatant, but that did not seem to help. I did hook a nice smallie with the fly even though it sat sideways in the water. He did not seem to care. He hit it the first time & missed so I moved the fly just a bit & then he proceeded to pounce on it like a tank. Any thoughts besides the fly was probably water soaked ???

Oh, I did mimic my fly after one I saw in a recent article in a flyfishing magazine. If you have a pattern that stays upright I be interested in seeing what you may have, if you'll share.

Tie One On----------------------<*))))))))><

[liv2fish]

After you shave the bottom make sure the fly is perfectly flat where it will be in contact with the water. I think adding some zap a gap to eat holds the deer hair together a little better. After a fish or two deer hair gets mangled. Also pay close attention to stacking it evenly on each side of the hook. It wouldn't take much for it to ride a little sideways. Not sure if it would change your pattern to much but a wider base (in contact with the water) should be more stable.

[Joni]

Foam!



I tie this with deer hair but mostly with Muskrat hair (natural water resistant, unlike rabbit)