Nothin to it but to DO IT!

Here mousey, mousey...

Mousing has been around for a while.  I equate it, in a way, to carp fishing.  A lot of people have been doing it for a long time, just not the people who write or make videos about their excursions.  I've wanted to tie on a mouse pattern for some time now.  Daydreaming of a big largemouth or rainbow crashing the surface for a swimming rodent makes me salivate.  At the tying vise, however, my hesitancy would kick in and I would opt for a pattern I'm more comfortable with.  I was fearful that I could not tie a mouse pattern.  Even with only myself at the table, I feared a blow to my ego and potentially to my tying.

And then I received something that turned everything around.  A gift from my uncle.   Flies he had found when cleaning out my grandfather's things after he had passed away.  There were two of them, large, gaudy, obnoxious.  Thick clumps of deer hair tied on with what looked to be butchers yarn.  Thick white yarn holding on one large, long clump of deer hair.  One of the things I am sure to tell kids who are just starting out with tying is, "there are two types of flies...flies that fish like, and flies that fisherman like".  That is something I had forgotten while tying lately.  Everything has been precise and aesthetically pleasing to me.   I began developing the mentality that beautiful flies will catch fish.

I'm fairly certain that my grandpa didn't tie, so those flies my uncle gave to me must have been tied by his brother, uncle Donny.  They weren't pretty or neat in any way.  But I'm confident they would catch a fish.  My confidence was riding high.  "I can tie a little old mouse pattern," I though.  Turns out, I could.  It was not only easy, it was ascetically pleasing and realistic.  I did work hard to make it that way, but if it hadn't turned out like that, I wouldn't have minded.  They will be tested this weekend in locations where hungry bass and trout call home.  Heck, maybe I'll even try out the flies that inspired my work.  My confidence is riding high.

If you have considered tying a patter that you think will kill it on your local water, but are hesitant to take the jump, I only say this.  You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.  If you never attempt to tie a patter, you never will.  Get busy tyin when you don't feel like tryin...