First Clouser

[redvtec00]

Good morning guys! I just recently starting tying some of my own flies, and while at Cabelas the other day I picked up a variety pack of bucktails and decided to try my hand at tying a clouser. I've heard the key is to tie them sparse, and I tried my best to do so. I was just hoping some of the better tiers on here could give me some constructive criticism, so I can keep improving this pattern. Thanks guys!

-Seth

 

[turkey]

Seth, some more experienced guys on the board might change a few things, but I think that this looks pretty good. I would fish it. They are very effective flies. Good stuff.

 

[jayL]

The only real criticism I can make is that I'd use a bigger hook or shorter pieces of material. Someone with more clouser experience than me very well could overrule that, though, so take it with a grain of salt.

It's a good tie in my opinion. My clousers don't look any better.

 

[gutcutter]

a nice first clouser. length of material off of the hook looks fine to me. the "sparseness" is right on!
my $.02
dumbell closer to the hook eye - about half as close as you have it.
place the hair right on top of and below the dumbell without the long transition to the dumbell

 

[wsender]

Looks good! What the others said seems to be right. I'd also go a touch sparser. With clouser's, and deep clouser's, I tend to go as sparse and I can stand it. Then I remove 1/5 of the total materials.

 

[sniperfreak223]

It's a great first attempt, I also think the hook's a little small, and I like my eyes a little closer to the eye, those are the only issues I see, but they're more personal preference, that fly is definitely fishable. I tie mine the way Bob Clouser does, so mine look a little different than most of the fly shop ones, but when it comes to tying flies, everyone has their own preferences, Keep at it and find the way you like them to look.

 

[redvtec00]

Thanks for all the input. I bascially just grabbed a size 8, 3XL streamer hook from my box and gave it a shot. So I think I'll pick up some bigger hooks, and try to make some of the adjustments you guys recommended. Thank you again and I'll be sure to post some of my next attempts.

 

[gfen]

Everything is subjective.
Eyes differentiate the style of movement. Closer to the eye, the more it'll dart to the bottom. Middle of hook, less rapid movement.

Same with hook length. Some fish strike headfirst, some fish nip at the tail. Trouts are nippers, you want a longer hook, or less material, depending on how you look at it.

Sparseness is also subjective, I say there's too much pink almost too much white. Gut says its good. Everyone's right.

I'll offer up two tips, though, because I can and that's the sort of self important jerk I am. First, if you don't put a couple drops of Superglue over the eye wraps, top and bottom, you should. It'll help prevent them from shifting around. Also, I the eyes and the lower portion on with red thread, then switch to whatever for the top. It makes me think of the gill flash from an esaping fish. On the bigger saltier versions, I omit that but put a little bit of red antron or krystal flash down tehre for the same reasoning.

 

[wbranch]

Overall a very fishable first attempt Clouser. As a couple guys have said tying any fly is very subjective and whatever "rules" are in place is just meant to be a starting point for you to deviate from.

I tie dozens of Clousers every year and I like to set my eyes back about 1/4" from the eye of the hook. Maybe I'm just not a good tier but if I have the dumbell eyes set closer than that my head comes out looking very bulbous and not at all appealing. I like tapered eyes and glossy heads.

I don't tie very many color variations of Clousers as over the years I've found the ones that catch the most trout or smallmouth. For trout I tie only three colors; blue over white, gray over white, and all white. All with various kinds of silver flash in the middle. I use various eye weights to depending on the water depth and how I want to fish the fly for various circumstances.

For smallmouth I tie all yellow with gold flash, yellow over chartruese with gold flash, gray over white, and brown over green over white to imitate a baby smallmouth. Sparseness is good but often my flies are probably too heavily dressed. For hooks I prefer Mustad micro barb S71SZ-34007 in sizes #1/0 to #6.

You can see from the picture that my Clousers are by no means "sparsely" tied yet they catch a heck of a lot of trout and smallmouth. So as I said initially the "rules" surrounding fly tying are not set in concrete. Appearance of the fly is not nearly as important as it's effectiveness! It can look like crap but if it catches fish consistently then I gues beauty is truly in the eyes of the beholder!

I do get quite a few "short" strikes and if they continue to take short I have tied some of the specific trout colors with up facing stinger hooks to get those short strikers. Funny thing about the flies with the stinger hooks is I always forget they are on the hook and I get pricked more often than not. I've had to crush the barbs on the stinger hooks to avoid burying a barbed hook into my finger.

 

[boychick]

Your fly will fish, yours is better than my first attempt. Any streamer hook can be used, but I find a salt water hook works well. I use a Daiichi 2456 size 2 hook for my clousers. Wider hook gap and shorter shank is helpfull for hooking and landing (not losing) fish. As for the eyes, they should be moved forward a bit as noted above. The material looks fine. Youn can change the amount of material and length for different water conditions and species targeted.

 

[osprey]

That looks better than my first Clouser too..........VERY NICE!!!!!

 

[falcon]

Looks real good for your first try. Should the hook type have a straight eye?

 

[WoodRiverTroutBum]

I know a striper wouldn't turn down a deceiver that looks like that! Nice job!

 

[sandfly]

These are original directions from Bob Clouser:

 

[Toofish]

Thank you sandfly that's great!!
Sean

 

[elonDO]

Here are some YouTube videos showing Bob Clouser tying the minnow himself. This goes along with the written directions as noted above.

Bob Clouser - Tying Clouser minnow (Part 1)

Bob Clouser - Tying Clouser minnow (Part 2)

Bob Clouser - Tying Clouser minnow (Part 3 - finishing the fly)

If you ever get the chance to watch him tie them in person, he makes it look so easy! Great guy if you ever get the chance to talk to him as well.