Any tips for mouse patterns and fishing them?

[PaScoGi]

Do mouse patterns work in Pennsylvania?

Do they work during the day, or only at night? I was thinking of trying them at 5am or 6am when it is still dark, or at 7pm when it gets dark.

Should I use 2x tippet?

Should I cast across and drag it across the water, or is there a better way to present it?

Anyone got some simple mouse patterns to tie? Links would be helpful.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Acristickid]

First off, would not Fish anywhere that I wasn’t very very familiar with in the dark.

If you think getting hung up in a tree limb is a problem in the daytime try it at night or wading around for that matter.

In any event it certainly can be done and many folks have caught some big ones at night. That’s when the bigger fish come out of hiding and will feed.

The basics are you get a big fly that moves water, makes a disturbance that gets the trouts attention , they may take it for a mouse but I think it could be really anything , a small duck , big insect etc.

Use the heaviest line you can get away with. Big Browns are not gonna be leader shy especially in the dark with a big giant fly making big waves.

These are my 3 basic takeaways, good luck.

Anecdotally. I believe if it was that successful and easy more people would be doing it but I think it’s really just a pita.

 

[Dave_W]

Yes mouse patterns work in PA, day or night (they're even better for bass than trout). I usually fish 'em down and across with a slow, steady retrieve that leaves a "V" wake.

There are a lot of mouse patterns but I like mine on the smaller size, highly realistic, and very buoyant. I use a tippet of 13-17lbs.

There has been a lot of discussion of mouse fishing here on PAFF. Use the Advanced Search function to read the old threads (please don't refresh the old threads).