I figured I could make one that was as good as the one in the magazine. My first eight or nine were nice and I gave them away. But I wasn't completely happy with them, since the hooks I had were not quite what I wanted.

I finally saw some hooks that I thought had the right combination of features, including a thin and flexible wire hook, long shank (0 or 00), and a large gap with a slight offset. But because they were rather expensive, I only bought 24. The first three off the vise were good, but they got better and better as I developed a style of doing them.

The name came to me in April of 1991, when our local fish and game club (York Fish & Game Association) co-sponsored an Earth Day Celebration atop Mt. Agementicus. It was a two-day event in which we planted 1500 seedlings and removed a little over four tons of trash and recyclable stuff from the woods.

As part of the celebration I did some fly-tying at our booth and began tying a mouse. The ladies from the Art Association booth were full of questions as I tied, but I just responded, "You'll see ladies, you'll see." When it was completed the ladies were in awe over the life-like mouse in my hand. They asked if they could get one from me so I obliged and handed it over, as well as two others in various stages of being built and a piece of deer hide with hair still affixed. They placed it on display for the year and have kept Aggie. It made me feel like a real artist!