Rate my Clouser

[rstaight 0]

Nice job on your first attempt. My preference would have been less chartreuse. That will reduce the bulk on the head.

 

Again, nice job. Keep at it, you are going to be a good tier.

[utyer 0]

Yes, Mike was busting your eyes, he wasn't serious. Fish can come up on one side or the other, and can't see both eyes at the same time any way. I usually just use bead chain eyes, since most of my flats are less than 3 feet deep. The hook is a salt water hook, but it will add some extra weight. The Mustad 3366 is a good hook for freshwater patterns. The Gamakatsu b10, or the mustad C52Bln are all good options for the clouser.

 

As for the tying, overall, you have tied a very good fly. There are a few things you should work on. The white (or belly side,) is wrapped with thread all the way back like you did, The wraps can be open or touching, but after you finish off the fly, these wraps should be coated with several coats of nail polish or head cement to make them more durable. The head and the area where the hair goes around the eyes also should be coated for durability.

 

As was pointed out, there should be no hair in front of the wraps near the head. Watch Bob's video carefully for the way he cuts the hair, and pushes it down at a 45 degree angle as he wraps it down. Laying the hair along the shank will create a more bulky layer of hair all on the top or bottom side of the shank. Then a lot of thread has to be used to form a smooth head. Pressing the hair down into the shank will spread the butts around the hook shank and form a slimmer tie in.

 

You can use much less hair. Again listen to Bob as he states that he uses a very small amount of hair.

[JSzymczyk 0]

No need to use those extra heavy stainless steel hooks in fresh water unless you just want to. Other than that it's looking pretty good.

 

In my OPINION every new tier should spend a good amount of time just breaking thread, fooling with hooks, tying in various materials, wrapping things, etc before worrying about specific patterns.

 

One major thing which helps ME make the neatest, uncrowded, tightest heads on any bucktail pattern is to measure your clump of bucktail and cut it to length before tying it in. I normally add a small drop of head cement to the butt ends of the bucktail before tying it in as well. Have your thread positioned at the REAR of where the head will be, and tie in the bucktail clump with forward touching wraps. It helps.

[Poopdeck 0]

Very nice job.

[mikechell 0]

As has been mentioned by those who know me, I wasn't serious about the eyes ... it was just the only thing I could see that wasn't near perfect. As I also mentioned, which wasn't a joke ... I've watch several video tutorials on tying the Clouser.

MANY of them do not produce a fly that looks as good as yours.

[Triplef 0]

That is a fantastic job! Especially for your FIRST fly!!! Man!!! Yea . . . and as you tie more of that pattern your flies will improve some. But what you did here will DEFINITELY catch fish and a few fishermen! Several really good tips here on how to make it even better!!

 

I can't wait to see some of your other patterns!!!

[FlatsRoamer 0]

Let's see 2.0 !

[zfetcko 0]

Yeah I knew Mike was just messing with me. I appreciate all of the feedback. When you say a touch of wax is that like the wax that like the wax that Davie McPhail uses that he rubs on the thread?

[Eddie Southgate 39-5 0]

clean up the eye area of hair and good tying on the rest of the fly

 

flashabou is a perfectly acceptable substitute if thats what you have on hand

 

hair is hair whether it comes from the body or a tail

What he said.

[Meeshka 0]

I think you did a phenominal job! Check it out for yourself. The following 2 flies in my collection were purchased from Bob Clouser's fly shop in Middletown, PA. The grey one some 20 plus years ago when I was down there and had the oppertunity to meet and spend a few hours with his son, Bobby. Unfortunately it was not tied by Bob himself, as they had another fellow tying for him at the time. Funny you mentioned a DVD. Back then there were no such thing (VHS was hot) and he sold the instructions on paper pamphlets. The second one was purchased by a friend as a gift via internet about 5 years ago. Sorry my picture taking ability was not the best last night.

I'm not the best at judging other peoples flies but this is what I see:

his flies are definately bulkier ( but in my opinion bulk in this case is subjective to the tier - so great job )

to clean up the excess hair on the eye I sometimes use a single sided razor blade after i have done the best with the scissors. Be careful you can easily cut your knot.

Your fly will catch fish!

 

Doug

 

 

 

[FIN-ITE 34 0]

Yeah I knew Mike was just messing with me. I appreciate all of the feedback. When you say a touch of wax is that like the wax that like the wax that Davie McPhail uses that he rubs on the thread?

 

Yes, a hard type wax like DMcP uses. Or you can use this in the waxed version.

http://www.danvillechenille.com/flymstr.htm

[zfetcko 0]

I have the rite bobbin half hitch model. The instructions said to put one washer on each side of the thread spool. If I do this the bobbin screwed in all of the way is not tight enough to keep the thread snug (like its loose and can wiggle left to right). I had to add two washers to each side to get it tight. Is this normal or am I doing something wrong?

[zfetcko 0]

nevermind the thread spool has like an extra little cap on the end of it and I had taken that off. I put it back and it fits better now.

[zfetcko 0]

Meeshka thank you for uploading these pictures they will definelty help as another resource to go by.