Early season clouser......help !

[Englander]

HI Guys

I was playing around the other night trying to tie an early season lure but in Clouser stlye ! (telly was #rap) Black/green basis for the idea like the good old viva. wild brown trout the target !

Mk 1 on the right B175 size 8 ...........as you can see it did'nt go to plan happy enough with the tail and twinkle in it, the holo silver body......ok .........however im not sure if a long shank would have been better or just a much bigger hook ?

It really falls down from the white marabou under wing and the black marabou over wing , simply crowd the hook eye my own fault. But the biggest problem is too much wing material !! And im pretty certain the soft flowing movement that makes marabou great for tails, make it #rap for wings on clouser !! I think a stiffer material is a must for clouser i.e calf, fox, buck tail although i feel buck tail too course for a trout clouser ? no idea as to why i feel that ??

The MK 2 on the left i scaled back the tail and wing materials, but i still think marabou is not for clouser wings ?? Also forgot the twinkle in the tail ! But thats the least of its problems Basically i failed ! both will be getting scrapped .............back to the drawing board

Any ideas ?? How i can get what im after ?? ideas welcome

[timmy mullet]

Hi Englander.
The Clouser is an extremely successful fly for salt water predators and I have no doubt it would be effective on wild trout also. I've tied some specifically for my trip to the wilds of Sutherland and simply scaled them down in size, from a size 4 to a size 8 Mustad 34007 hook, with small size dumbell eyes (easier to cast also). They are very straight forward to tie with DNA Frosty Fish Fibre or DNA Holofusion. The 'sparse' version is popular at the moment. UK Salt Water Flies have the materials and a SBS for tying.
Cheers.
Col.

[ballthebuilder]

I think there's just too much going on on the fly, very bulky....Clouser don't have a tail so I would first of all lose that. Scale the hook size down a wee bit and use the tips of the bucktail (which are softer) to tie an upper and lower wing, (green and black) keeping it sparse. The fly you've tied looks like a "Cats Whisker". If you want to use chain bead instead of dumbells you could tie it "Crazy Charlie" style, with the holo silver body and a sparse green/black wing with a strand or two of sparkle.

Cheers Dave

[Former member 6]

I reckon you've just got a bit over enthusiastic as I did last night m8 when I ended up with these crazy blue zulu's with sparkly green collars great big red tails and black heads.

It's like cooking, sometimes a very slight or not so slight variation to the recipe can make it all go Pete Tong.

I did tie up some very nice skinny dabblers I'm quite happy with however.

[wynne]

Hi Englander,
Can understand what you're trying to achieve & have checked the Clouser website to get a better feel.
Eyes seem to be a third of the way down the hook shank for starters. Try thinning the tail with the sparkle added in.
As for the 'wing', use marabou thinly, around squirrel hair - marabou for movement & squirrel to give a bit of body ?
Will try a couple of Welsh versions to see.
Pob lwc - good luck.
Wynne

[Englander]

Hi Guys

Thanks for the input .......................


Had another bash trying to achieve the objective i set out in my first post......im much happier Green/black thyme and abit of a mouthful for a hungry trout ?


Hook: B175 size 6 !!

[g bigtrout]

Hi ....i had a bit of a stab a while back myself, just a thought on last one there would you consider trying a bit of black rabbit as wing?...just thinking it might suit what you are looking for with the pattern.If you look at this one closely the rabbit skin is tucked under the barb of hook against the back of hook where it stays when casting. Just a thought on it, and i did go down to a size 12 grubber hook aswell.

[ballthebuilder]

That looks spot on Englander.....I wouldn't hesitate to use that at night for Bass etc.....Very nice.
Cheers Dave