Casting a mouse

I tied up some very realistic mouse flies for those monster browns and bass. For bass I can use some heavy mono for a leader to cast it out. The problem comes with the trout. A trout wouldn’t take a fly on a 12 pound leader. Would it? How can I get the fly out so a trout will take it without making myself look more foolish than I already do?

Fishin’ squirt,
Michael E.

Hey Michael,

for me - it really depends on two things - water speed/chop and retrieve.

If you’re fishing fast choppy water with the mouse - then you can probably get away with a 3x or 4x.

If you’re in a pond or some really flat water - then probably you’re going to need to go down to a 5x or 6x, which will make casting it hard - but not impossible…keep your back cast open and you’ll be good.

I use to cast deer hair mice for big browns and rainbows. No problem at all with my 0X tippets. They just see the big meal.

Stick with about 8lb test. That’s what I use and that’s pretty much much what most “mousin guys” use. It’s heavy enough to turn a deer hair mouse and get the hook set well in a big browns jaw yet not so heavy you need to worry about the dia. being too big. Just like heavier leaders on Hex at night fish are not near as leader shy at night, plus when they come after a mouse it’s not a gentle sipping rise its a charge and kill attack so leader dia doesn’t come into play as much as you might think when mousing. I would not suggest going much lighter than that though because not only will it not turn over but then you have to fight the leader knotting up because it’s too light for the fly size.

Steve

i always used 10# (1x) or 12# (0x). fish didn’t seem to mind and i didn’t mind the tippet being able to withstand the vicious fish that hit the mouse.

No further questions, thank you all.

Fishin’ squirt

Underwater pictures make it clear that a trout can see any size tippet we can cast. The point isn’t that something like 6x is invisible, the point is that 6x gives a better drift (and fits the eye of a size 22 fly).

What this means is that using 1x or 2x shouldn’t be a problem.

I think you’d be surprised what you can get away with, especially fishing topwater at night. With low light, and a noisy fly to draw their attention away from anything besides the meal and you should be fine with 12lb but I wouldn’t hesitate to go heavier if I was worried about losing big fish around heavy cover. As long as it’s not too stiff to deaden the action of the fly I think you’ll be ok, and I’ve never seen any 12lb line that would come close to being too stiff. I use a lot of 17 and 20lb mono/fluoro when fishing bigger flies. I think there’s a relationship between fly size and tippet size as far as drawing the attention away from one and towards the other. 2x on a size 14 makes for a knot thats clost to the size of the head, possible the body of the fly. 20lb on a size 1/0 makes for a knot maybe half the size of the eyes on the fly. Just something to consider when choosing leaders where drift isn’t a factor.

Steven, fishing at night the fish just aren’t seeing the leader, daytime would be different.

Michael, last week I tried mousing for the first time. I was fishing after dark and I got 5 splashes, felt 3, & I landed one. I was using 20-pound test tippet. I was in the “holy water” section of the Au Sable River in MI, which is heavily fished.

Ed

If that trout wants your mouse he will hit it even if you have it on a rope!! Here in NZ some of the biggest browns are taken on dear hair mouse patterns and I would not put one on a tippet of less than 10lb. Of course I will try to land the same fish on a 4lb tippet and a small dry, go figure.
All the best.
Mike.

Hi LF,

I think the point I was trying to make is that during the day time, fish see ALL leaders.

This thread has opened the leader-tippet can of worms, so let me contribute to the confusion with a question. I have been using 2, 4 & 6 lb. Pline Floroclear copolymer line for tippets thinking it is more invisible than other lines and not as heavy as fluorocarbon. Thought and opinions appreciated.