Best hooks for clousers

[jhammer 0]

I was curious as to what other folks used as their "standard" clouser hooks. I'm a finesse man and my clousers are always between size 8 and 10. I've always used the Mustad 3366 hook. Anyone else use this hook for theirs as well? Any folks use another type? If so, what advantages/disadvantages of the other types are there?

[deeky 0]

In that size, I just use a standard Aberdeen style bait hook. They are a little lighter weight, so I can ensure they flip without quite as much weight on them, and using these small sizes for panfish, I don't have to worry about the lighter wire straightening (although I've had them survive a tug-of-war with a good pike that wanted the gill I had hooked). I also like the longer shank as it puts the point further back in the fly for the short biters and gives me more room to move the eyes further back depending on the amount of glide vs. jigging action that I want in the fly.

 

Deeky

[skidoosh 0]

I really like the Gamakatsu B10S - same basic shape as a 3366 but really sharp. The other option is a kink-shanked popper hook, the Mustad signature series is great in this hook. The advantage is the kink will put the dumbell eyes in the same place every time.

[Guest rich mc]

i preferr the 60 degree bend hooks . they are hard to find in 6,and smaller tho. richmc

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

I do tons of Clousers for the salt (everything from a #6 all the way up to 2/0). The hook of choice if I'm not using a jig hook is the Mustad 34007 (occasionally the 34011 if mackeral are the targets and a long shank hook is needed). All of mine are done the way Lefty Kreh mentioned all those years ago when he wrote that first article about them for saltwater types. All of the wing is on top... Here's a pic of the Whitewater Clouser (a typical, quick to tie "guides pattern"). It's on a 2/0 hook and yesterday it was all my anglers needed...

 

Tight lines

Bob LeMay

[Chefben4 0]

I do tons of Clousers for the salt (everything from a #6 all the way up to 2/0). The hook of choice if I'm not using a jig hook is the Mustad 34007 (occasionally the 34011 if mackeral are the targets and a long shank hook is needed). All of mine are done the way Lefty Kreh mentioned all those years ago when he wrote that first article about them for saltwater types. All of the wing is on top... Here's a pic of the Whitewater Clouser (a typical, quick to tie "guides pattern"). It's on a 2/0 hook and yesterday it was all my anglers needed...

 

Tight lines

Bob LeMay

 

I can second the use of the 34007's. They are a staple hook for me for fresh and salt. I can also attest to Capt. Bob's pattern. I tied a bunch of these for my recent trip to the keys and did awesome with them!

[eastern fly 0]

I like Mustad 33909. It has a rock solid place for fhe eye.

 

Kevin

[Rocco 0]

I have been using longish, hump-backed, popper hooks in size 6 because I have a lot of them I'll never use otherwise. The barbell eyes fit nicely into the notch. The fine wire is actually pretty strong and stands up well to the local smallmouth and the occasional catfish.

 

They also work in the hybrid Clouser/Krey, Minnow/Deceiver, version. (Fire orange feather wings at the back with dark Chartreuse sythetic wing over and yellow wing under marked with some black felt tip barring makes a nice Fire-Tigerish version that usually stirs up action in muddied waters.)

 

Rocco

[TheCream 0]

I have used the 34007's, but primarily I use the 3366 in sizes 2-8, most of mine are on #2 or #6 hooks.

[tidewaterfly 0]

I don't have a "standard" hook that I use for Clousers, and use many different hooks. I'll use & have used spinnerbait & straight shank worm hooks, aberdeen hooks, O'Shaughnessy hooks (34007, 34011, 3407, VMC 9255, EC 253, 254, 354), kink shank popper hooks, straight eye circle hooks, straight eye octopus hooks, 3X long straight eye streamer hooks, and some of the down eye streamer hooks, although I prefer straight eye hooks. Mustad makes a shrimp hook, C47SNP-DT, that I've also used. There are likely others I've used too. All have worked just fine!

[JSzymczyk 0]

The Deep Minnow is a STYLE of fly rather than a pattern. There are a few keys, which Bob Clouser and Bobby Clouser Jr. stress when they teach how to tie the fly-----

 

Mount the eyes further back on the shank than you think you should, at least one dumbell LENGTH behind the eye. If it looks too far back when you start, it's probably about right, maybe still too close. In his tying classes at BPS in Harrisburg, Bobby shows how to hold the dumbell eye lengthwise behind the hook eye and use that measurement as a reference. The fly tyer puts the eyes in a uniform spot, not a kink in the shank.

 

Use about twice the amount of hair in the top bunch of hair as what you use in the belly. This aids in flipping the fly to ride point-up. Use about half the hair you think you should, and that will be a good start.

 

The deep minnow is not a jig, and tying it on jig hooks detracts from the horizontal swimming drop that makes it so effective- concentrating the weight at the extreme front of the hook causes a nose-down dive which is not the intent. It's still effective, just like all jigs are, but that's not what the fly was designed to do.

 

The Lefty Kreh / Bob Clouser combo fly (Deceiver cross bred with a Deep Minnow) is called a Half-and-Half.

 

Use whatever hooks you want, tailored to what you expect to do with them. Bass both LMB and SMB, stripers, big predators usually smash into baitfish from the side or head on- they don't nip at the tails usually, so a hook like the 3366 works great with several inches of bucktail flowing out behind, no worries. For stream trout and stuff which tend to sometimes "hit" without eating, or chase and bite short, use longer streamer-type hooks with the end of the bucktail not far from the bend of the hook.