Chatto’s foam mouse

 

If the fish is big enough it will take a mouse. This applies to trout, barra,cod, saratoga and a range of other fish.

This little mouse lands right way up most of the time, swims well and has a reasonable mouse profile. The eyes and the ears are really only for the angler and hopefully add a little confidence that the fly is a least a little representational.

Materials

Hook Thread Tail Upper body Belly Legs Eyes
Can be tied on a range of medium shank hooks. Uni big fly thread Zonker strip 2mm closed cell foam Estaz chenille Rubber or silicon legs Fabric paint

Process

A
  1. Wind the thread in touching turns from the 80% position to the bend of the hook.
  2. Select a section of zonker strip with the skin about 2/3 as long as the hook shank.
  3. Tie the zonker strip in at the bend of the hook with the hairs facing down.
  4. Apply a drop of super glue where it is tied in. Super glue runs so make sure not to apply too much.

B
  1. Cut a section of 2mm closed cell foam that is a little wider than the gape of the hook and about 3 times as long as the hook.

C
  1. Fold the long strip of foam in half.
  2. Without cutting through the end trim the corners of the two edges of the folded foam strip at the folded end.

D
  1. Unfold the foam and place the centre of the cut in the foam strip right over the back of the tie in of the zonker strip.
  2. Tie the foam in at that position with a couple of firm wraps of thread.
  3. Lift the front end of the foam strip up and take the thread forward to directly in front of that.

E
  1. Take a length of estaz chenille and tie that in directly in front of the foam.
  2. Take the thread forward to about the 85% position.

F
  1. Wind the estaz chenille forward building up an acorn shaped body.
  2. Tie the estaz chenille off at the 85% position and trim away the excess.
  3. Take the front end of the foam over the estaz chenille body and tie that off directly in front of the estaz chenille at the 90% position.
  4. Take a length of rubber legs or silicon legs and thread that onto a needle.
  5. Insert the needle into the edge of the closed cell foam exactly where you want the leg to come out and at the angle you want the leg to extend and then take the needle up through the foam so that it sticks out the top.

G
  1. With the balance of the leg material still attached to the needle create the opposite leg by taking the needle in from the top of the closed cell foam and this time make sure that it comes out exactly where you want the leg to come out and at the angle you want the leg to extend.

H
  1. Repeat that process for the second set of legs.
  2. Trim the legs to a uniform length equal to about twice the gape of the hook.
  3. Put a couple of generous drops of super glue where the legs came through the closed cell foam. Not only will this make sure that the legs dont pull out but it will lock the remaining section of closed cell form which is still extending behind the fly from step D3 above.
  4. Now pull that back section of the closed cell foam forward so that it sits directly on top of the fist section of closed cell foam.
  5. Lock that into place with firm wraps of thread at the 95% position with the wraps of thread covering the earlier wraps of thread from when you tied the front section of foam in.
  6. There are now 2 loose extensions of foam facing out over the front of the fly.The bottom one will become the snout of the mouse and the top one will become the face and ears.

I
  1. Take the top foam (the face and ears) and pull it back over the back of the body.
  2. With a sharp set of scissors split it part way down the middle. The split sections will automatically splay out to the side like big oblong ears. With the scissors trim the ears into rough rabbit shapes.
  3. Apply 2 drops of white fabric paint to represent the eyes.
  4. Remember that the ears and the eyes are more for the fisherman than the fish because when viewed from below, as fish do, it will only be the profile of the fly that fish sees and not the shape of the ears or the colour of the eyes.For the fly fisher however the eyes and the ears do make the fly more visible.
  5. The bottom section of closed cell foam (the snout) is still sticking out in front of the fly untrimmed.
  6. Trim that off to create a mouse inspired snout. I err on the side of the snout being wide and round rather than quite ling and thin as on the natural as the wider snout disturbs more water and adds a little extra buoyancy to the fly.



Last Updated: September 13, 2015
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Categories: Bass, EP's, perch and saratoga flies, Flies
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