Aug 2, 2010

Mouse fishing tips from New Zealand - Some Words From Carl McNeil of Once in a Blue Moon



A few weeks ago I stumbled upon McNeil's Mad Mouse. Carl sent me some great mouse fishing wisdom from the other side of the planet. The mouse fishing sequences in Carl's movie Once in a Blue Moon are truly incredible. In one scene Carl mouses up a big Rainbow in broad daylight. Anyhow here are some tips on tying mouse patterns and fishing them courtesy of Carl McNeil...

Yep, I'm the Once in a Blue Moon guy, that was me casting mice in the film.
The pattern you refer to was designed by me and is manufactured and distributed by Manic Tackle here in New Zealand. I have a few more coming so will fire some over to you if you send me your address.

The 'pattern' is actually pretty simple - less of a pattern and more of a design principle really...

It's just a tightly spun deer hair fly trimmed into a teardrop shape to make casting easier.
A large gape hook is very important - 'Bows tend not to take on the fish attempt, they smash at it and come back for another go.
Tail - a rubber band, or thin zonker strip with the hair trimmed off is fine.
Legs - important.  Rubber bands or crazy legs tied in during the spinning - Knot em if you can be bothered.

Eyes, ears and whiskers are entirely optional - the commercial ones have them because they look cool - no other reason, the fish can't see em.

The retrieve is all important when fishing any mouse pattern.  There's lots of mouse swimming footage on our YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/users/bumcast

No comments: