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http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...l/Clouser1.jpg
Not the best but I used the short hair and not the tips so it flares a lot more than it should. Not as hard as I thought. Will have to tie a bunch more.
Is on a #6 2x long Eagle Claw LS fly hook. Not as easy to tie that small. My larger bucktail flies for big fish are much easier.
For your first one Not Bad ,try to put the eyes a little further back a little less material and taper the head. just trying to help Some flash is always good on a Clouser
Not bad at all, but unless I am just seeing it in the photo wrong it could use less hair as it is.
Still it should work and work well.
also one way to help the flaring is to do the epoxy head and what you can do is find something to restrict the flair some and then do the epoxy like that and when dry it will hold the hair more like you want. It also makes for a great looking head that is then covered with the epoxy.
Skip
fish 4 all,
I like it buddy. Good color choice an contrast. It does flare a little, but I think it will still work well.
How do you intend to fish this thing? Cast and slow retrieve? Under a bobber? I'm just not very familiar with this type of jig.
nice start!! another way to control that flaring is to take the wraps in front and behind the eyes as in these clousers that I love to tie up...
This first pic is an example of the tie in front of and behind the eyes to control more of the flair. While this one is still flared out, it was the look I was shooting for. Sometimes I'll take that top set of bucktail and tie it down too if I find that the top set of bucktail is flaring out too wildly as you can see done in this first pic...
http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/l...003-legacy.jpg
Here's another pic showing a pattern that has been stellar in both freshwater and saltwater.... Now in this one I didn't tie down that top set of bucktail... what I did was start some anchoring wraps at the ends of the bucktail nearest the hook eye (but I didn't really bear down on these anchoring wraps until I had about 5 or 6 wraps going from the hook eye to the clouser eyes).... then I held down the bucktail and gave some firm wraps to form the head and finished it off and coated with "Hard As Nails"..... I think you'll get the idea here even though it's a bit difficult to see.
http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/l...louser0000.jpg
The thing I've learned is to go with thin layers and thin wraps and a few drops of "Hard As Nails" here and there and the patterns really come out nice. Nothing like Bob Clouser's of course, but these still catch fish and yours will too!
Happy tying!!
I don't have any I tied since I started tying them so nothing after I really learned, but here is one that has the epoxy on the head and that is really want I want to show here.
Skip
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h1...s/DSC00300.jpg
Nice!! I really like those color combos.... that would be a stellar shrimp pattern for some saltwater action!!!!
I definitely plan to fish them. I can think of 11 or so species here that should hit them. Will use them every way I can think of.
I tied up another one and got a better look to it. The one pictured does have 14 strands of flash on it, my picture kinda flashed it out and too much material buried it. I am gonna use less material, a little more flash and move the eyes back a little more. I didn't realize what 1/3 was until I tied them and the flare got out of control not to mention the head looks wrong.
The bucktail only goes about 1/4-1/2 inch beyond the hook bend.
I like all 3 of them but really like the color on yours Skip.
I actually tie a similar streamer fly pattern that is absolutely killer. Will post one of that fly and one of my other tries in a bit. Gonna tie up a couple more to see if I get the right idea.
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...l/Clouser2.jpg
#2 last night
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...l/Clouser3.jpg
#3 a little bit ago.
Getting closer. I see how much of a difference it makes to move the eyes back. Tying down the bucktail also made a difference in the 3rd one. Didn't have to in the second one and it looks better. Might be the sparser amount of material.
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...onstreamer.jpg
This is that streamer fly. Have caught salmon, steelhead, trout, serf perch, sea bass, ling cod, green ling, cabezon and some other salt fish on it that I never identified. I imagine if it was down sized it would catch Bass, crappie and maybe gills and perch. Looks like a minnow but the colors are reverse, the dark runs on the bottom and point down.
If it catches crappie, bass and other panfish like it does other fish I would be simply over run with them. Put 37 salmon and 102 sea bass on the bank in one day using this thing; on different days of course.
Here's Bob himself tying the Clouser:
YouTube - How to tie a clouser part 1
YouTube - How to tie a clouser part 2
By all accounts, he is a very nice man.
Yep, I have watched it a few times. I just have to practice enough that I am that good at it. My bucktail probably makes a difference as it seems softer than what he uses but I will figure it out. I also think that I am gonna go through and see what I have for a wider gap hook. The ones I have been using are a very narrow gap streamer fly hook so it looks different when finished.
You are getting there. I too will epoxy the head and use less hair. Set your eyes back a tad. Be sure all wraps are neat. It gives a better profile. I don't tie these up anymore except for myself. I am too busy with marabou and traditional crappie jigs. For your first effort though...not bad.
Here are all three parts to tying the Clouser. Part 3 is the epoxy finish.
BOB CLOUSER MINNOW
http://www.flyfisherman.com/ftb/TyingClouserMinnow1.wmv
http://www.flyfisherman.com/ftb/Tyin...ow2address.wmv
Bob Clouser part 2
http://www.flyfisherman.com/ftb/ClouserEpoxyaddress.wmv
Bob Clouser part 3
Man, I don't know if I will ever take the time to epoxy them. I doubt I will ever have one long enough for it to matter before losing it on something. It does look good though with the epoxy finish.