I love fishing for pickerel with my spinning rod and a few top water baits for the weeds. I like doing the same thing for bass but then there are times that I like to take my fly rod and a few deer hair mouse flies or a deer hair rat.

It amazes me just how fast pickerel attack a fly, even in the weeds. I have even had them come clear out of the water to grab that fly. Not much gets past their field of view that’s for certain. Although a slight breeze can come up and it’s as if they go blind and deaf until it stops blowing.

My goal this year is to tie myself and Jamie a few flies that fit the profile of a mouse or rat and let Jamie have a go at fly fishing for some pickerel. I am sure it’s an experience he won’t soon forget. I certainly haven’t forgotten the first pickerel I caught on the fly, even though I was fishing for trout at the time. It was quite a fight for the size of that pickerel and had me coming back many times for more excitement.

I have tied a few deer hair mouse flies but it’s been about 15 years or so. They lasted a good long time but it’s time to tie up a few more for the coming fishing season. I just have to get that corner hutch to be able to setup my fly tying station in my office. I will be able to just swivel my chair and start tying. It’s just that a few other high priority things have had my attention lately.

One thing that is important when tying your own mouse or rat and that is to be sure you add a weed guard so that you can trim the mouse/rat so that the bottom is pretty flat and sits upright in the water.

I also don’t bother with the little eyes and ears as I don’t think the pickerel sees these features on the top of the mouse. That way I can tie a whole lot more of them.

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