Clouser
Fly of the Month 11.12 Clouser
This “fly of the month” represents the latest in the Alen Baker/Tom Adams series.
One of the best known baitfish flies is Lefty’s Deceiver. Lefty is well know for his streams tied with an abundance of bucktail and/or feathers along with a large thread head and painted eyes on each side. Deceivers set the standard for baitfish imitations until Bob Clouser moved the standard in a totally new direction.
Clouser
Bob Clouser wanted a streamer fly that imitated baitfish that moved along the bottom of the water column, particularly in the saltwater estuaries. Up until his creation, most streamers were tied much like Atlantic salmon flies only much longer and with more material and some type of doll eye or a painted eye on each side of the thread head. What Bob created was revolutionary in that he used dumb-bell shaped lead for the two eyeballs. Tying the eyes across the top of the hook shank essentially forced the streamer fly upside down in the water with the hook gap up rather than down. The advantage, the hook was less likely to snag on objects along the bottom.
To imitate a baitfish, Bob used white buck tail tied across the top of the hook shank for the white or silvery belly of the baitfish, some flashabou for a lateral line and typically a darker or brighter color over the gap for the back of the baitfish. Moving upside down, the dark or bright over white appears suggestively like a baitfish.
My favorite Clouser is a size 1 Chartreuse/White which attracts stripped bass extremely well during the AprilMay run on the Roanoke River. A Pink/White Clouser or Yellow/White Clouser works equally well as does a number of other colors. Spotted Seatrout are attracted by literally the same clouser patterns as are many other species of freshwater and saltwater fish. Bigger trout are also attracted to these colors but a smaller size 6 is easier to cast with a 6-Weight rod. Practically any color over a white or light belly appears to look like a baitfish and attracts bigger fish.
The Appletree Trouser
Now for an RRTU exclusive. Allow Tom and I to take ob Closer's wonderful creation a step further. We hought it would be worthwhile to have a Clouser-like treamer that is smaller for attracting trout. Taking the est elements of the Little Trout Streamer series, the est elements of the Clouser and yes, the best elements f the woolly bugger, allow me to introduce the RRTU Appletree Trouser (Trout Clouser) series:
Appletree Brown Trouser
Hook: Streamer, Size: 6, 8, 10
Thread: 6/0 Black
Eyes: Bead-Chain
Tail: Orange Maribou
Body: Orange Osterich Herl with Yellow Saddle ackle, palmered
Underbody: White Deer Body Hair
Lateral Line: Holographic Flashabou
Overbody: Brown Maribou
Appletree Rainbow Trouser
Hook: Streamer, Size: 6, 8, 10
Thread: 6/0 Black
Eyes: Bead-Chain
Tail: ink Maribou
Body: Pink Osterich Herl with Olive Saddle Hackle, palmered
Underbody: White Deer Body Hair
Lateral Line: Holographic Flashabou
Overbody: Black Maribou
Appletree Brook Trouser
Hook: Streamer, Size: 6, 8, 10
Thread: 6/0 Black
Eyes: Bead-Chain
Tail: Yellow Maribou
Body: Yellow Osterich Herl with Olive Saddle Hackle, palmered
Underbody: White Deer Body Hair
Lateral Line: Holographic Flashabou
Overbody: Olive Maribou
- Alen Baker
Fly of the Month 11.12 Clouser
Hook: Streamer, 3x to 4x, Tiemco 5263 or equivalent, Size: 4, 6, 8, 10, 12
Thread: Uni 8/0 or 6/0 depending on hook choice, white
Body: Bucktail, color combination of choice
Weight: lead or brass dumbbell, or chain eye
Note: Color and size are largely dependent on target species. Virtually every fish will take a Clouser in some circumstances. Do not forget this streamer fishes “upside down” when you are considering color.
Directions:
1) Wrap thread from the eye to about one third the distance to the hook bend. Form a small dam of thread at the rearmost part of the wrap. Place the dumbbell on top of the hook and wrap with crossing threads to secure. Bob Clouser does not recommend x wraps. It should only take six or eight wraps. Do not attempt to fill the vee section of the dumbbell. Finish the wrap with the thread in front of the weight about half the distance to the eye. Let the bobbin hang.
2) Select the bottom color. This is the color that will be on the top of the shank in a normal position. White would be normal, to represent the baitfish belly. Select a medium size clump of dear tail. Cut and holding very tightly at the approximate length desired, pull away the short unwanted fibers. If the tail is not cleaned of the short ones it will not tie in properly. No need to stack these, but by keeping a tight pinch on the deer hair and holding at a forty five degree angle when you make the first soft wrap the hair will make a bullet head without using thread as a builder. So, the deer hair should appear flat due to the pinch and holding it as a thin, flat shape on top of the hook shank you will make the first soft wrap above the point where you left the thread to begin with. After cinching down with the soft wrap, make a couple of firm wraps and advance the thread to the eye, trapping the hair in place. In tight touching wraps take the thread toward the dumbbell and when you reach the dumbbell, wrap the thread
immediately behind the dumbbell which binds the thread on top of the hook shank pinning the hair in place. Now you can make a crisscross pattern along the top of the shank to above the hook barb and back again all the way to the tie in point in front of the dumbbell.
3) Take the hook out of the vise and invert. This will be the top of the fly in the water. Choose several strands of flash and tie in. Select the top color of deer hair and tie in like before to form the top back of the baitfish. The length should be slightly shorter than the bottom.
4) Make a head with tight overlapping wraps and seal with epoxy.
- Tom Adams, Alen Baker
This “fly of the month” represents the latest in the Alen Baker/Tom Adams series.
One of the best known baitfish flies is Lefty’s Deceiver. Lefty is well know for his streams tied with an abundance of bucktail and/or feathers along with a large thread head and painted eyes on each side. Deceivers set the standard for baitfish imitations until Bob Clouser moved the standard in a totally new direction.
Clouser
Bob Clouser wanted a streamer fly that imitated baitfish that moved along the bottom of the water column, particularly in the saltwater estuaries. Up until his creation, most streamers were tied much like Atlantic salmon flies only much longer and with more material and some type of doll eye or a painted eye on each side of the thread head. What Bob created was revolutionary in that he used dumb-bell shaped lead for the two eyeballs. Tying the eyes across the top of the hook shank essentially forced the streamer fly upside down in the water with the hook gap up rather than down. The advantage, the hook was less likely to snag on objects along the bottom.
To imitate a baitfish, Bob used white buck tail tied across the top of the hook shank for the white or silvery belly of the baitfish, some flashabou for a lateral line and typically a darker or brighter color over the gap for the back of the baitfish. Moving upside down, the dark or bright over white appears suggestively like a baitfish.
My favorite Clouser is a size 1 Chartreuse/White which attracts stripped bass extremely well during the AprilMay run on the Roanoke River. A Pink/White Clouser or Yellow/White Clouser works equally well as does a number of other colors. Spotted Seatrout are attracted by literally the same clouser patterns as are many other species of freshwater and saltwater fish. Bigger trout are also attracted to these colors but a smaller size 6 is easier to cast with a 6-Weight rod. Practically any color over a white or light belly appears to look like a baitfish and attracts bigger fish.
The Appletree Trouser
Now for an RRTU exclusive. Allow Tom and I to take ob Closer's wonderful creation a step further. We hought it would be worthwhile to have a Clouser-like treamer that is smaller for attracting trout. Taking the est elements of the Little Trout Streamer series, the est elements of the Clouser and yes, the best elements f the woolly bugger, allow me to introduce the RRTU Appletree Trouser (Trout Clouser) series:
Appletree Brown Trouser
Hook: Streamer, Size: 6, 8, 10
Thread: 6/0 Black
Eyes: Bead-Chain
Tail: Orange Maribou
Body: Orange Osterich Herl with Yellow Saddle ackle, palmered
Underbody: White Deer Body Hair
Lateral Line: Holographic Flashabou
Overbody: Brown Maribou
Appletree Rainbow Trouser
Hook: Streamer, Size: 6, 8, 10
Thread: 6/0 Black
Eyes: Bead-Chain
Tail: ink Maribou
Body: Pink Osterich Herl with Olive Saddle Hackle, palmered
Underbody: White Deer Body Hair
Lateral Line: Holographic Flashabou
Overbody: Black Maribou
Appletree Brook Trouser
Hook: Streamer, Size: 6, 8, 10
Thread: 6/0 Black
Eyes: Bead-Chain
Tail: Yellow Maribou
Body: Yellow Osterich Herl with Olive Saddle Hackle, palmered
Underbody: White Deer Body Hair
Lateral Line: Holographic Flashabou
Overbody: Olive Maribou
- Alen Baker
Fly of the Month 11.12 Clouser
Hook: Streamer, 3x to 4x, Tiemco 5263 or equivalent, Size: 4, 6, 8, 10, 12
Thread: Uni 8/0 or 6/0 depending on hook choice, white
Body: Bucktail, color combination of choice
Weight: lead or brass dumbbell, or chain eye
Note: Color and size are largely dependent on target species. Virtually every fish will take a Clouser in some circumstances. Do not forget this streamer fishes “upside down” when you are considering color.
Directions:
1) Wrap thread from the eye to about one third the distance to the hook bend. Form a small dam of thread at the rearmost part of the wrap. Place the dumbbell on top of the hook and wrap with crossing threads to secure. Bob Clouser does not recommend x wraps. It should only take six or eight wraps. Do not attempt to fill the vee section of the dumbbell. Finish the wrap with the thread in front of the weight about half the distance to the eye. Let the bobbin hang.
2) Select the bottom color. This is the color that will be on the top of the shank in a normal position. White would be normal, to represent the baitfish belly. Select a medium size clump of dear tail. Cut and holding very tightly at the approximate length desired, pull away the short unwanted fibers. If the tail is not cleaned of the short ones it will not tie in properly. No need to stack these, but by keeping a tight pinch on the deer hair and holding at a forty five degree angle when you make the first soft wrap the hair will make a bullet head without using thread as a builder. So, the deer hair should appear flat due to the pinch and holding it as a thin, flat shape on top of the hook shank you will make the first soft wrap above the point where you left the thread to begin with. After cinching down with the soft wrap, make a couple of firm wraps and advance the thread to the eye, trapping the hair in place. In tight touching wraps take the thread toward the dumbbell and when you reach the dumbbell, wrap the thread
immediately behind the dumbbell which binds the thread on top of the hook shank pinning the hair in place. Now you can make a crisscross pattern along the top of the shank to above the hook barb and back again all the way to the tie in point in front of the dumbbell.
3) Take the hook out of the vise and invert. This will be the top of the fly in the water. Choose several strands of flash and tie in. Select the top color of deer hair and tie in like before to form the top back of the baitfish. The length should be slightly shorter than the bottom.
4) Make a head with tight overlapping wraps and seal with epoxy.
- Tom Adams, Alen Baker