Disclaimer: I have not fished this particular fly in the past – and, this is the first time tying it.

Note: There’s an SRS Calendar Update at end of this post.

So I finally took some time to tie something. And if you’ve ever tied streamers or articulated things in the past, you know what happens. Stroking those fibers and hair back leads to…

That’s right – BLOOD! This happened on the first one I tied and must of happened on each and every one. There were only 5 tied – heck my fingertips would have been shreds if I had done many more! The attack wasn’t only on the thumb, no – it was a shared experience that affected the index finger also.

One nice thing that has occurred with running this blog has been that a couple of people have taken to introduce themselves to me that run their own blogs. First and foremost is the guy that runs the blog called ‘Rivertop Rambles‘ (click on the Rivertop Rambles and you’ll go to the site). He’s ‘one of us’ – SRS member Walt Franklin! He has been writing for years and you can tell. He knows his way around words like a big brown trout knows March Browns in Pine Creek – well, very well! Here’s a link to his latest book titled “Learning The Terrain” listed on Amazon. I’ve commiserated with Walt on more than one occasion and want to say thank you for all the conversations and support you’ve tossed my way.

A new acquaintance, Darrell – that runs a blog called ‘Classic Fly Tying‘ (click on the Classic Fly Tying and you’ll go to the blog section of his site), started to follow us here. Looks like he ties some pretty nice flies I’d say. He likes entering fly tying contests and his latest entries got me interested in one of the patterns – the Big-Eyed Semperfli Mouse (referred to herein as BESM – please note this is NOT BDSM – huge difference).

I found the YouTube video for tying the BESM (once again… click… on BESM if you’re interested) and this will help any of you if you want to try to tie this finger-sticker – I mean trout sticker.

Once I got all the materials together I could start torturing the fingertips. But after all the stabs, pain and blood, the mouses (yes, intentional use of ‘mouses’) turned out like this.

I think this was the second one as the first one had a bit of blood on it if I remember correctly. Either that or the blood was on the far side of this tie (it wasn’t – this had to have been the second one tied).

This is an articulated style tie. So this means that there’s 2 sections to the fly. The back section has the business end of the fly – the hook barb. I found that stroking the fibers rearward a challenge with not getting ‘stuck’. Thus, so much comment about blood and sore fingertips. A more skilled and wise person may be able to cope with such challenges. I need to get more skilled in order to preserve my fingertips. Anyway, after the rear section is tied, you attach it to the front part and finish off the mouse. As I got further away from the rear articulated section, I found I was not stabbing myself as much. Not that it couldn’t happen – but less often.

A quick note about the foam section. I find that after applying the Zap-a-Gap to the thread base (all instructed in the YT video – which makes the underside of the foam head), I will lash 5 or 6 turns on the foam (not too tightly) while I correct the position of the head as I let the adhesive set up for a few minutes. Then I’ll lash some more and apply some adhesive to the thread and lash with that before proceeding to add some ‘fluff’ to the underside of the head section. Too much thread tension when initially lashing down foam will lead to cutting through the foam – not what you want to do. Follow that YT video and you’ll get the knack.

One more note on the fly, the front hook section has the hook’s point cut off high up (near where the bend starts from the shank) at the conclusion of tying this fly. I left one on in order to clip it into place to take it’s picture. That part has since been clipped off. The foam head supposedly elevates that section of the tie as it ‘swims’ through the water. When I fish it I’ll be able to tell better what sort of action occurs with this tie.

It’s impressionistic/realistic appearance looks good to me. I hope the fish like it too – time shall tell.

I only tied five of these thumb and index finger piercing bast… ah… you get the idea. Only four showing here as I think one was in the clip in the photo booth. They aren’t perfect but may fool a brown eh? It’s suppose to swim … like a mouse I guess. I’ve seen a squirrel swim across Pine a year or so ago – one of the more unique things I’ve seen there. I did not witness it being harassed at all as it swam across Pine. A bit surprising, I suppose, that a big bass or brown didn’t try to nip at it. Well, here’s hoping that a brown will go for a mouse when I fish it this year.

SRS Calendar Change/Update:

One note to pass along to everyone who email follows us – it looks like our Summer presenter, Greg Hoover, has a conflict for the June 4th date and will instead be presenting at our Fall meeting on September 10. Please take note and we apologize for any inconvenience regarding this change in calendar.

Till we see each other again… I’m ‘an’ Unintentional Blogger …. aka UB