How To Tie The “Master Splinter” Mouse Fly

Last week I posted a new “Hook Shots” episode in which we spent three long days and nights throwing mouse flies for the wild trout in the Upper Delaware River in New York. While mousing is pretty popular in the Rockies and Alaska, mice are not exactly something found in every fly box on the East Coast, including my own. Prior to this experimental outing, I spent weeks collecting mouse flies and tying some of my own. We put our money on traditional, spun-hair bass-bug style mice being the big winners, but overall, we lost that bet. In the end, it was a very simple slim profile mouse I whipped up that had more hits and put more fish in the net than any other. Lots of people have been reaching out asking for tying instruction for the fly we dubbed the “Master Splinter.” If you’re a child of the 90s (or have little kids today), you’ll get the reference. Whip up a batch and go fishing after dark. You might be surprised by what takes a shot.