Complex Twist Mouse

Cheech - June 19, 2015

News flash... Fish eat mice. You already know that, but we might underestimate how important a mouse might be for a large predatory fish that makes a living sucking down protein all day (or night... yes, most definitely night.) We have all seen the pictures on the internet where a fish is gutted and is filled to the brim with mice, but how do they get there? Good question, but I kind of have a theory. Mice have two things going for them that make them excellent fare for fish. 1- They aren't the brightest creatures in the world and scurry about like me looking for the cotton candy section at a convenience store. Fast and furious, 100 mph all the time. This speed and determination often ends up in them taking a wrong turn at Albuquerque and boom... they are in the water. 2- They are excellent swimmers. If you have ever seen a mouse swim you will understand what I'm saying. They use their whole body to swim with their heads sticking up out of the water, and they push quite a bit of water like a wake. Because of this, it's critical that your mouse patterns have the ability to push water.

I have been tying a variation of this mouse on and off for about 10 years, and I'll be honest that I got inspired by such mice like the Morrish Mouse by Ken Morrish, and the Cheeky Mouse by Nick Jones. Those are great patterns that are highly buoyant and push a lot sh#& ton of water. I had gone back and forth on the body of my fly, but after tying the Complex Twist Bugger, I decided that I'd use the same technique on the body of my mouse. The tail is what usually gets me because rabbit is one of the best fly tying materials on the planet - it also has a bad habit of being overly clingy... to the inside of your hook bend. The fouling of the tail leads to the mouse not having the "right" profile of a swimming mouse. I devised a system using stiff monofilament and a lighter to help combat this tail fouling issue. It works so well that I have used it on gurglers, frog legs, etc. Jazz this fly up as you see fit, but just make sure that you leave plenty of foam at the head of the fly so it pushes a bunch of water. If this fly doesn't produce for you, Curtis will buy you a Mt. Dew.*

~Cheech