# Clouser minnow



## Jdl80 (Nov 19, 2019)

Depends on the fish you are targeting. Maybe not good idea for trout or panfish, but a 1/0 lg eye clouser is deadly for snook reds and baby tarpon.


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## BrownDog (Jun 22, 2019)

In my experience your eye/hook size are going to be more controlled by the rod you are using than the pattern itself.
Hard to mess up a clouser minnow to the point it won’t catch anything.


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## tunataker (Jul 8, 2018)

How deep are you fishing? What line weight are you casting? There are many variables to consider. Not just hook and eyes size - the material and how it is tied more sparsely Or even bare on the bottom and fuller on top is something else to think about. I have been using clousers more and more over the last couple of years. I have even used large deep clousers on full sinking lines when dredging over reefs offshore.


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## hipshot (Sep 29, 2018)

I tie tiny Clouser variants with small beadchain eyes or beadheads on #6 and 8 hooks, and with extra-large lead eyes on 2/0 and 3/0 hooks. It all depends on how deep you want to fish and how light a rod you want to fish with. You adapt your fly to your needs. There is no rule on size or on weight.


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

The original Clouser Deep Minnow was created for fishing smallmouth bass in rivers - all those years ago by Bob Clouser. There are so many variants that I've always thought of the clouser (note the small "c") as a style of tying. Indeed, many years ago when Lefty Kreh wrote the first article I ever saw about clousers he pointed out that his preference was to always tie it with the entire wing on one side of the fly - and that's how I do it (mostly...). I've tied hundreds and hundreds (maybe thousands...) of clousers for fly shops from Boston to Miami and all the way across to Oregon back when I was tying commercially - and they ranged in size from a #6 (for bonefish) all the way up to 4/0 and 5/0 bugs for offshore... You vary the hook sizes to match the fish you're trying to catch - and the eye sizes (and types) to the depths you're wanting to have the fly work in... 

At any rate here's a few samples to get anyone started with them... 








The bonefish clouser (mustad 34007 #4 hook) a very simple pattern if you do without the weedguard... I filled many orders for these in two sizes, #6 and #4 in tan/white (shown), fl.green/white, pink/white, brown/ orange... 
The next photo shows size comparison between a small #6 and a bit larger #4, note that not only the wing changes size - but also the size lead eyes in use...









Here's the peacock clouser - a specific pattern that one shop ordered regularly in two different materials... the first all natural with bucktail, the second with a synthetic wing..








these clousers are tied more traditionally (similar to the original clousers)








Note that the tying thread in both peacock patterns isn't thread at all... it's 4lb mono (recycled off of a spinning reel...).

The next clouser is something we use daily in the backcountry of the 'glades when I have fly anglers aboard - the Whitewater Clouser...








Tied up on a Mustad 34007 2/0 hook it's a much bigger pattern... and is tied up with the largest beadchain eyes (the same size bead chain you find on the pull cord with vertical blinds...). This big pattern is meant to be tossed right into downed trees or mangrove roots and that wire weedguard allows an angler to fish it mostly snag free. Last Friday, my first day back at Flamingo after the closure - it accounted for every fish (just trout and snook - it was a slow day for us...) we caught and released... 

For anyone learning to tie flies - the clouser and all of it's variants should be a great starting point. And for experienced tyers.. sometimes simpler catches more fish...


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## grass bass (Aug 29, 2017)

The Clouser according to Bob Clouser:


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## Valazybeachbum (Apr 15, 2020)




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## Valazybeachbum (Apr 15, 2020)

Valazybeachbum said:


> View attachment 133936


These are one I tied last night. Just seem small and light


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## Jdl80 (Nov 19, 2019)

Those look killer!


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## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

Valazybeachbum said:


> Does hook size and dumb bell eyes matter. Been tying 1/0 hook with large eyes. But I noticed in Clousers book he recommends a smaller hook with 6/32 eyes.


One of the things people forget when tying and using clousers or any weighted flies with or w/o larger hooks is, or what type and size dumbbell eyes you should use, is....."what size fly line are you casting it with?" 

I strongly recommend that you learn what size hooks and weight (and even bulkiness of the fly) you use on a particular fly line (aside from the targeted species). I can show you all kinds of clousers and write an article on them. I could even say I've talked to Bob himself about the subject, but we only talked about food when I saw him. But your original question is not as important to both tying and choosing the size of the clouser, than for the size and type of flyline you are throwing them on. THAT should be your question and that will help determine what size and weight of the hook and the weight of the eyes that will match properly to the weight of the fly line you are using it on!


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## Hank (Jan 14, 2019)

Or maybe go all the way back to what size fly and how deep should it fish for the fish you are after. Once you get that figured out, then you pick a fly line that will carry your fly and a rod that will cast that line.


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## ShannonD (Aug 25, 2013)

There are good and bad Clousers. I recently called out some badly done Clousers on a Cabela's ad.


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## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

Hank said:


> Or maybe go all the way back to what size fly and how deep should it fish for the fish you are after. Once you get that figured out, then you pick a fly line that will carry your fly and a rod that will cast that line.


Thanks for adding that Hank!


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## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

ShannonD said:


> There are good and bad Clousers. I recently called out some badly done Clousers on a Cabela's ad.


Wait, you didn't just post that video? ShannonD, is that you in the video? Please don't distribute that kind of advise on what makes a good clouser vs what makes a bad clouser. People can do whatever they want to do with Bob's pattern. But according to what you are saying Bob himself is doing it all wrong. That leaves everyone else doing it all wrong, except for you and Pop's customers. Really?


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## ShannonD (Aug 25, 2013)

Man, that is excellent advice!


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## Guest (May 19, 2020)

Cool


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