How to Tie a Freshwater Clouser Minnow

Producer: Tim Flagler

I think if I only had one fly pattern to use in both fresh and saltwater, it might well be the Clouser Minnow. And if I only had one color combination, it would probably be chartreuse and white. I’ve been tying up a bunch of these in preparation for a trip to Canada, in search of trophy smallmouth bass.

The fly starts with a size 1 Umqua Model U502 bass hook. It’s very important that the hook be really well secured in the jaws of your tying vise, as a lot of thread tension is going to be used. A rotary vise, although not essential, does make the job easier, as throughout the tying process you’ll be inverting the hook numerous times.

Pick up a small amount of super glue and apply it to the front half of the hook shank behind the eye.

For thread, I like gel spun 130 Denier because of its incredible strength, which allows me to wrap with a ton of pressure. Get the thread started on the hook shank behind the eye and take touching wraps rearward through the superglue. Gel spun is slippery stuff, especially on a shiny hook shank, and it has a tendency to spin – the superglue prevents this. I’ve found a double edge razor blade to be a great tool for cutting gel spun threads. With about 2/3 of the shank coated, advance your tying thread forward to 2 eye-lengths or so behind the back edge of the hook eye.

This part is optional, but I like to use just the smallest amount of Super Fine dubbing, the color really doesn’t matter, but red kind of looks like gills or blood if any of it’s visible. Use the dubbing to create a very, very slender noodle on your tying thread, about 2 inches in length. Start taking wraps with the noodle to create a padded base on the hook shank, on which the Clouser’s dumbbell eyes will rest.

The eyes are really up to you, in terms of size and color. For consistency between flies, I’ll place a set of dumbbell eyes on top of the hook so one end rests nicely in the hook eye. I’ll then use the other end to determine where the eyes will be placed on the hook shank. Begin securing the dumbbell eyes by taking nice tight cross wraps with your thread. Make sure the eyes are perfectly perpendicular to the hook shank. Take a few more cross wraps then rotate your vise or flip the fly over so the underside is now up.

Apply an ample coat of superglue to the dubbing and wraps, now over top of the eyes. Flip the fly back up to its original orientation and start taking yoke wraps, that go over top of the eyes but underneath the hook shank. I like to do kind of a mini tug-of-war – back and forth, side to side – to really lock the eyes down. Just make sure that when you’re done, they’re still perpendicular to the hook shank. Finally, take circular wraps below the eyes but above the hook shank to draw everything in and tight. End with your tying thread behind the eyes. The dubbing, superglue and thread wraps might seem excessive to some, but I just can’t tolerate Clouser eyes that easily spin on the hook shank, and this sequence is the best I’ve come up with to stop that from happening.

To add a little bit of shimmer to the pattern, snip 3 or 4 strands of pearl Krystal Flash free from the hank and find their midpoint. Place the midpoint on top of the hook shank, above your tying thread, and take wraps to secure it. Pull the forward-pointing portion of the material back, also on top of the hook shank, and take rearward thread wraps to anchor it there. Go all the way back to about the hook point, then return your tying thread to behind the eyes. If you need to, trim the Krystal Flash off, a little uneven looks more natural. I use an edge on my vise head as a rough measurement to do this. Now advance your tying thread forward to immediately in front of the eyes.

Again, not essential, but Veniard’s Fly Tyer’s Wax will add a lot of grip to the slippery gel spun thread. Apply a real ample coating to an inch-and-a-half or so of the thread below the fly. Then, move your bobbin up and take a wrap or two around the shank to ensure the next wrap has been waxed.

From the top third of a white bucktail, snip a sparse clump-free, down close to the skin. While holding the clump a third of the way down from it’s tips, pull out the shorter hairs from the butt ends. Re-grip the clump and measure to form a tail about 2 full hook lengths long. Pass the clump to your left hand and snip the excess butt ends off square. Hold on to the clump very tightly. Place it over top of the eyes, with the butt ends at an angle down to the hook shank.

Start taking wraps with your tying thread at a 90-degree angle to the hair. Use a good bit of tension while taking these wraps. The wax does a remarkable job of preventing the thread wraps from slipping downward. Wrap back up and go underneath the eyes and begin binding the bucktail down behind them. Slide the fingers of your left hand back on the bucktail then give your bobbin a clockwise spin, as if you’re looking down on it, to cord up and thin your tying thread. Make open spiral wraps around the shank and the bucktail, all the way back to about the hook point, then take a 90-degree wrap or two before starting back up the shank with open spiral wraps. End with your tying thread, once again, immediately in front of the dumbbell eyes.

The only thing worse than eyes that spin is bucktail that pulls out, so coat the tie-down area, behind the hook eye, with super glue. Then, take nice tight thread wraps through it to set the adhesive and really lock things in place. Here too, end with your tying thread at the front edge of the dumbbell eyes. Now, invert the fly once again, so the underside of the hook faces up. If you have it, go back to your wax and coat your tying thread as before.

Next, repeat the same procedure as you did with the white bucktail with chartreuse bucktail, making sure the majority of the shorter hairs are stripped free from the clump. This clump will form the wing of the fly and should be the same length as the tail. Once you have the measurement correct, snip the butt ends off square. Angle them down to the hook shank, like so, and again, do your best to wrap it 90 degree wraps to the hair. The slope is pretty steep here, so even with wax, expect a little thread slippage. The less, the better. Go back to your superglue one last time and coat the wraps and the bucktail with it. Take thread wraps through the adhesive to set it. Here, too, wrap slippage should be minimal. The superglue really helps to keep the bucktail from slipping out from underneath the wraps.

Pick up your whip finish tool and use it to do a 5 or 6 turn, back to front whip finish, seat the knot well and use your tying scissors or, again, a razor blade to snip or cut your tying thread free. Get hold of your favorite head cement, here, Sally Hansen Hard as Nails, and apply a liberal coat to the thread wraps and to the bucktail that stretched over top of the eyes. Make sure everything is coated all the way around.

So I can tie another fly while this one dries, I take plunger-style hackle pliers and attach them to the hook eye like so. I’ll then prop the tool up and allow the head cement to dry thoroughly. A little breeze from a small fan definitely speeds the drying process. Once the head is completely dry, I’ll separate the chartreuse bucktail equally on either side of the hook.

Remember that Clousers ride with the hook point up so, when fished, the chartreuse will be up with the white underneath. Once you get going, you can tie a bunch of these in fairly short order, which is good because you never seem to have enough of ‘em.