Fly Tying Inventory
Complex Twist Mouse
Complex Twist Mouse is a foam surface mouse from Clark "Cheech" Pierce, inspired by Ken Morrish's Morrish Mouse and Nick Jones's Cheeky Mouse. The buggy body uses the same twisted chenille and schlappen method as his Complex Twist Bugger. A rabbit tail set on stiff mono stays clear of the hook bend instead of fouling, so the fly holds its swimming mouse shape. Foam left at the head pushes water and leaves a wake like a real mouse swimming with its head up. It is worth fishing after dark as well as in daylight. Tied here on a size 1/0 hook.
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Materials
Maxima Chameleon leader material, 30 lb, stiff mono for the tail
30 lb
Rabbit zonker strip, grizzly
Grizzly
UV resin, to lock the thread wraps on the tail
Rainy's Evazote Foam, black, 1/4 inch, for the back and head
Black · 1/4 inch
Magnum Predator Legs, Grizzly Barred Rootbeer
Grizzly Barred Rootbeer
How to Tie the Complex Twist Mouse
- 1
Step 1
Clamp a length of 30 lb Maxima Chameleon in the vise so the free end stands out stiff. This mono carries the tail.
- 2
Step 2
Start the thread on the mono and take a few tight wraps. Bring a lighter to the mono beside the wraps, work the softened spot with your fingers and let it cool.
- 3
Step 3
Hold the hook against the mono to gauge where the tail will sit behind the bend. Bind a rabbit strip to the mono at the thread wraps with the fur running off the end, then trim the excess.
Rabbit tails love to foul around the inside of the hook bend. The stiff mono is there to stop that.
- 4
Step 4
Tie off and cut the thread. Put a drop of UV resin over the wraps and cure it.
- 5
Step 5
Free the finished tail from the vise and mount the hook. Start the thread and spiral it along the shank to the bend.
- 6
Step 6
Bind the tail to the rear of the shank with the rabbit strip trailing behind the bend. Trim any excess.
- 7
Step 7
Cut a strip from the foam. Lay it along the top of the shank with the long end pointing back over the tail, and bind it down along the shank with firm wraps.
- 8
Step 8
Bring the thread back to the rear of the bound foam. Tie in the UV Polar Chenille and the brown and white schlappen feathers there.
- 9
Step 9
Gather the chenille and schlappen in a dubbing spinner and twist them together into one buggy rope.
- 10
Step 10
Wrap the rope forward, stroking the fibers back as you go. Tie it off and trim it, leaving room behind the eye for the head.
- 11
Step 11
Tie strands of Magnum Predator Legs along each side at the front of the body.
- 12
Step 12
Fold the foam forward over the body and bind it down behind the eye, leaving a raised hump over the body and the free end pointing forward.
Leave plenty of foam at the head. That is what pushes water.
- 13
Step 13
Dub a small amount of Ice Dub at the tie-down under the foam and whip finish.
- 14
Step 14
Trim the free end of the foam to a short stub and cut the legs to length.
Watch Tying Tutorial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFvSu4gTB3U
Credit: Cheech / Fly Fish Food