Clousers - my way

One of many many different species caught on the Clouser. It really is a catch it all pattern when you can catch bonefish on the flats and a Bronze Whaler on the same pattern on the same day!

Clousers are one of those select few classic patterns that transcend the lines between freshwater and saltwater fishing. It offers a platform for almost unlimited amount of modifications and has been used to fish for almost everything that swims. When Bob Clouser came up with this fly in 1985, he did all of us fly fishermen a huge service. It's a true classic that is as relevant today as it was back then.

One of many forms of Clousers I tie. A "Lefty" style Clouser.

Clousers were the first SW pattern I tied and might be my last one too. I can roughly categorize my Clousers to three different styles. All the different nuances between patterns are too many to count so we will go forward with the three main styles.

Traditional

Here's a prime example of a well tapered traditional Clouser. It has balanced proportions and a profile that matches many small baitfish like anchovy and silversides.

  The traditional way uses a bucktail tail that's tied and wrapped behind the eyes all the way to the back of the shank just before the hook bend starts. The wing is tied in front of the eyes. A good and traditional way to attach the eyes is to divide the hooks shank in to three parts and attach the eyes 1/3 away from the eye of the hook. You can however tweak the position of the eyes according to your needs. Further back and you get more leverage to turn the hook point up and a more balanced swimming action. Further up front and you get more jigging action and a more vertical drop that can help the fly to sink more in "free fall". For these traditional style Clousers, I suggest that you use a hook with somewhat smaller hook gap so you don't have to use excess weight on the eyes to get the hook point up in the water.

Start by attaching the eyes about 1/3 from the hook eye. I'm using a size 1 Mustad C70SD on this one.

Attach the clump of bucktail in front of the eye first and then tie it flat along the hook shank all the way back.

Add some flashabou or body braid on the body if need be. Then tie the first wing directly in front of the eye.

Add a few strands of flash on each side and then tie in a small clump of pink bt.

Finish the fly with one more tie of olive bt.

Add some UV resin or epoxy on the body and eyes for strength.

Looking good

I use the traditional way mostly on mid sized Clousers and mid sized lead eyes. Hook sizes are mostly 2 to 1/0 on these. They have caught many different fish for me over the years.

You can also use synthetics to make these.

Not the most common catch with the Clouser, but this Bronzie was hot after this one.

Golden Trevallies love Clousers

The Clouser is the gold standard fly to catch false albacore.

Lefty Style

Set of Lefty style Clousers ready for action.

Lefty style or "flats" style Clousers are the second method I use a lot when tying Clousers. This style has all its tie in points in front of the eye. No tail is added when using this style. You can use body braid, flashabou or something similar to make the body if you want to, but a bare hook shank works just as well.  The benefit of this method is that you can use wider gap hooks and lighter eyes and still get the fly to swim point up easily. They are also very foul proof. The 1/3 rule for eye placement works well for this method too as you need room to tie in front of the eye especially if you want to taper your fly well with multiple ties. However, you can set the eye right up front if need be and still get the fly to ride point up easily as there is no tail to counter this effect. This style is the fastest one to tie and I use it mostly for small Clousers with light eyes, but also on big wide gap hooks and bigger eyes if I absolutely need to use them. 

Attach the eyes firmly to the hook. 1/3 rule applied on this one.

Tie in the first tie just in front of the eyes

Tie in the second tie just in front of the first. Add some flash.

Tie in the last tie in front of the second one. Remember to taper the ties smoothly to get that nice baitfish shape.

Add UV or epoxy for strength.

Give it a wash and take out any annoyingly flaring strands of bucktail.

Easy

Like said before I use this method mostly for small and light Clousers and can go all the way down to  size 4 hooks on these. I also use this method a lot if I need super heavy, wide gap hooks. On that type of hooks you don't want to use the traditional method or Half&Half's as you will need to use extremely heavy eyes to make them swim point up. Much easier on those situations to just go Lefty style. 

I sometimes bend the hook shank on my Lefty style Clousers a bit to get a more streamlined look for them.

Here's a simple Lefty style Clouser tied on a 3/0 short shank wide gap hook. These things are super simple cannon fodder for bigger fish. Using yak hair from the great Rupert Harvey and H2O Flat'n Fine for this one.

I catch a lot of perch here locally with this method and it's my Clouser of choice if I am using Clousers on top water feeding tunoids. It is also my shallow water Clouser of choice as the Clousers you usually use on the flats are small and light. Jack's and other trevallies love Clousers on the flats and it's also a good fly for bonefish in certain situations.

Big perch is the ultimate game fish around here

Smaller perches are the best table fare in Finland. 

It's amazing what you can catch around a flat that has a steep drop off

Clouser loving bonefish

My good friend Timo with a Lefty style Clouser caught Rankin Cod.

Small and light Lefty style Clousers are great flies to fish for baitball feeding Albies. 

Half&Half style

Classic H&H's with rooster feathers at the back.

This style originally comes from mixing a classic Lefty's Deceiver with the Clouser. Over the years it has evolved to a style that lets the fly tier add a bit more meat to their Clousers with the added possibilities to make wider profiles. I use this style with many different materials and tail options. Feathers, ostrich and Nayat are my top three choices but different types of synthetics and yak hair work very well for this style too.

Big H&H's with a ostrich tail and XL lead eyes

Big H&H made with yak hair

Medium sized H&H with synthetics.

They can be made super big or medium sized with this method. Really small ones are not the way to go on these. Hooks that have a narrower gap and a longer shank work best for these. Eye placement should be 1/3 or further back. You need relatively big and heavy eyes for these as the tail and the wider, more meatier profile resists the hook point turning up. 

On H&H's I many times start by tying the tail first before adding the eyes. Start with bt 360 around the hook.

Reverse tie some Nayat on top of the bt.

Turn and secure. Add some super glue or resin to the stem of the hair so it doesn't tangle up in use.

Add the eyes

Tie a clump of bt behind the eyes. Start the tie in front of the eyes and then go behind the eyes.

Add the first tie of bt in front of the eyes. Add flash.

Second tie in front of the first one.

On this one I added some peacock herl. 

Add resin and cure.

Done

Belly

Looks decent?

I mostly use my H&H's for pike here in Finland and for Striped bass, Redfish, false albacore and other hungry predators. Never leave home without them!

Big and super heavy H&H's are the ultimate weapon for big Coalfish.

Huge Stripers love H&H's

H&H's are the weapon of choice when fishing for Albies behind trawlers with sinking lines as they are focused on bigger food.

These monster Red Drum love H&H's

Early fall is a great time to catch big pike with H&H's. That time of the year they are at somewhat deeper water and really love medium sized fly with a jigging action on it.

This one too.

Here's a Youtube video of me tying a ostrich tailed version of the H&H.

Hooks

There are a lot of good hooks on the market, but not very many choices if you are looking for that perfect Clouser hook. Sure, Clousers can be made on almost any hook. However, hook selection is something you should think about if you want to perfect your Clouser game.

Three of my most used Clouser hooks. Mustad C70SD 2/0 and #2 and the king of Clouser hooks Gamakatsu SL11-3H 1/0

The best and easiest hooks to use for Clousers are hooks that have a standard or long shank and a narrower hook gap. On hooks like these it's easy to place the eyes right and make them swim point up without using excess weight. Of course sometimes you need to go with a short shank and wide gap hook and there are ways to make them work too, but they are not optimal hooks for Clousers.

My top five Clouser hooks are:

1. Gamakatsu SL11-3H. Perfect hook from all the way down from size 4 to big game Clouser hooks at 2/0. Perfect dimensions, shape and strength. These are absolutely perfect hooks. Shame that the availability of bulk packages are limited to the USA so they don't get as much use as I want to.

2 Mustad C70SD. Really good alternatives for the Gammies and much easier to buy. I use them from size 2 to 3/0. 3/0 is basically only used on big eyed H&H's. Dimensions are not as perfect as the Gamakatsu, but good enough. Has enough length on the shank and narrow enough gap to make things easy. I've caught some big fish with the 1/0 and 3/0 hooks and have a lot of confidence on these hooks.

3. Mustad S71SNP-DT. Only good at the 1/0 or 2/0 sizes. The rest of the lineup are a bit flimsy. Excellent proportions and dimensions. Great hook gap too. The long shank of the 2/0 makes tying H&H's very easy and the narrow hook gap makes sure you don't have to use excess weight to make them swim point up.

4. Daiichi 2546. Good Clouser hook from size 2 to 2/0. Best at size 1 and 1/0. Good dimensions, but the somewhat poor availability and stainless steel material drops it down the list.

5. Daiichi x472. Great hook gap, very strong and sharp! The shank is a touch too long which limits its uses a bit.

Daiichi 2546 at size 4 and Musta S71SNP-DT at size 2/0

The number one spot on that is list is pretty solid. I don't know if there will ever be a better hook for Clousers than the Gammy. However the rest of the list is wide open and I'm always looking for more options.

Closing words by Brian Horsley

Brian with a world record class Spanish Mac.

Brian is a legend in the field of fly fishing and has been my friend and mentor for quite many years now. He is also a personal friend of Bob Clouser and the late great Lefty Kreh so who better to quote and share some of Brian's excellent pictures of just a tiny fraction of the fish he has caught or seen caught with Clousers.

" The first fly I learned to tie was a Clouser Deep Minnow.  Good thing-it is easy to tie and effective on almost everything that swims.  I think before Lefty passed he had caught over 78 different saltwater species on the Clouser Minnow. As a guide for almost the last 30 years a effective quick tying fly is essential.  

The beauty of the Clouser Minnow is it can be tied with a wide variety of materials.  This lets the tier adjust the size and to a lesser degree the profile of the bait.   As traveling angler always looking for new saltwater destinations I never leave home with out a good selection of Clouser Minnows is a wide range of sizes and color combinations. "

Big Red's love em

Amberjack

Buffalo sized Albie on the Clouser

Two legends. Bob Clouser and Brian Horsley