Clouser

[FlatsRoamer 0]

Yep! I use 6 total strands of pearl Krystal flash as well. For some reason it is very hard for me to tie that first clump of buck tail in, like the thread slips off or can't stay tight on it.

 

Oh and that's actually the first time I see that gap of buck tail from the lead and the hook eye other than the bass pro flies, interesting...

[Cold 0]

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[Bimini15 0]

See, Cold, you try to warm up to people and this is what happens...

[McFlyLures 0]

So this is the video... I am not making a new feed for this, just for those who want to view me actually tying it and maybe give me some pointers or recommendations?

Clouser Minnow

[Moshup 0]

Very nice video McFly and nice fly. Love the Highlands music. I'm not digging the

gap space in front of the eyes however with the white bucktail. Why don't you bring the eyes forward

a bit and secure that white bucktail more abruptly in front of the eyes. Needless to say I hope

you used 3 strands of flash doubled over. No more no less. Good job .

[McFlyLures 0]

Very nice video McFly and nice fly. Love the Highlands music. I'm not digging the

gap space in front of the eyes however with the white bucktail. Why don't you bring the eyes forward

a bit and secure that white bucktail more abruptly in front of the eyes. Needless to say I hope

you used 3 strands of flash doubled over. No more no less. Good job .

The eyes are supposed to be set back on a Clouser, or the jigging action changes. The original way they were tied were with the gap. Go check out the video online of bob Clouser tying it himself, he left a gap the same way. Now, is it important? Personally I tie with the gap, and without. I think the fish don't care as much as we tiers do. It doesn't seem to change the action of the fly, as long as the Dumbbells are in the same place. But yeah, if you try to tie exactly like it was originally tied, then the gap is important, otherwise I don't think so.

 

Yeah? Glad you like the music. I love me some Scottish music.

[Moshup 0]

A Clouser 4 pak !

[tidewaterfly 0]

McFly, very nicely done IMO. I believe Joel & I both commented in that other thread about how to tie them correctly, how Bob Clouser tied them & that his details serve very specific purposes. Otherwise, it's just another bucktail streamer, tied with barbell eyes.

 

Mogup, check out Bob Clousers book. He explains how & why he ties them as he does. That gap at the front is usually filled with epoxy or some other similar material to add more durability, so is not as evident in Bob's flies. McFly tied the fly as it should be tied. Look closely at the flies you have there & they're tied the same way.

 

Bucktail is a excellent material, and many fish have been caught with flies tied with bucktail. The Clouser Minnow is a bucktail streamer, but each detail serves a purpose. That's what sets them apart from a basic bucktail streamer, so learning to tie them as Bob Clouser has designed them, is not a bad idea.

[Dave G. 0]

Looks good to me, my wife liked the music too.

 

Not a critique but when I tie in dumb bell eyes I like to put a drop of super glue on the wraps before moving on. Just a thought, not a pointer.

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

Must admit that I'm still in the school that treats clousers (note the small letters) as more of a style than a pattern. That very first article on the pattern by Lefty Kreh provided the first hints when he pointed out that he preferred his clousers with the entire wing on top instead of the way the original was tied.... and that's still the way I'm doing most of mine (with a few exceptions). Over the years I've filled many orders for "bonefish clousers", "peacock clousers", and my own variation the Whitewater clouser (heck I've even filled a few orders for "offshore clousers". For me it's been almost fifty years since I did any smallmouth fishing (and back then I'd never have thought of using a fly rod - but you learn....).

 

I suppose Bob Clouser's pattern will still be a staple in most fly boxes long after we're all fishing somewhere else...

[Moshup 0]

Roger that Tidewater. Will review Bob's instructions for the fly. Was not aware that he

had tied it with such a large gap and then filled it in.

[flytire 0]

bob clouser ties it here and talks about filling the head area with epoxy

 

[Moshup 0]

Thanks for the vid. 👍👍👍

[McFlyLures 0]

Looks good to me, my wife liked the music too.

 

Not a critique but when I tie in dumb bell eyes I like to put a drop of super glue on the wraps before moving on. Just a thought, not a pointer.

I usually do as well, however lately I've just put the UV resin over it when I'm done after doing it to the head of the fly. I find that it keeps it from spinning just as well, and dropped an extra step. I'll keep fishing them this way and see if it really does work as well. I'll let ya know what I find.

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

Many years ago I did 10 or 20 dozen clousers for a shop and very carefully superglued each dumbell before tying the remaining materials (I was doing production tying where you tie up the eyes on dozens of hooks before coming back with tails, and remaining materials. I was trying to make the pattern a bit more durable - but ran into an un-anticipated snag... I got lot of complaints about the lead eyes breaking off if the fly hit anything solid while casting... It took a bit of detective work but I found that securely anchoring those particular dumbell eyes (the standard style - not the presentation style I use today...) meant that the eyes would break off instead of shift a bit from an impact. The shop thought I was using some kind of cheap imported eyes (but they were the same component that Wapsi has been producing for years and years..). I went back to tying the eyes without super glue and the problem disappeared... Who knew?

 

To this day I still buy my lead eyes by the thousand per size and think they're an important part of many of the patterns I do...