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Thread: Hook Size?

  1. #1
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    Default Hook Size?

    What is the largest hook size on a Clouser Minnow pattern you would use for Rainbow(?) Trout?

    How about this pattern?

    4C3DEA85-A9B7-4B78-BFD5-D8ECBFB0CBEE.jpg
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  2. #2
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    Looks good!

    I can confidently say I know very little about fly fishing for freshwater trout.
    Last edited by SouthernWake; 07-26-2019 at 10:25 AM.

  3. #3
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    I have tied some articulated streamers that used size 2 and 4 Gamakatsu B10S hooks. Even a few size 1's for some of the bigger patterns. If I remember correctly though I think you'd be good with a size 4 or 6 in those hooks, I tied a lot of wooly buggers on the 6's and caught a lot of fish.

    I also hope you're not paying $40 for 3 clousers!

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by fowlshot View Post
    I have tied some articulated streamers that used size 2 and 4 Gamakatsu B10S hooks. Even a few size 1's for some of the bigger patterns. If I remember correctly though I think you'd be good with a size 4 or 6 in those hooks, I tied a lot of wooly buggers on the 6's and caught a lot of fish.

    I also hope you're not paying $40 for 3 clousers!
    Those are out of a collection of Bonefish & Redfish flies tied by Lefty Kreh, so the prices are a bit high, but I've seen some of his Bonefish streamers go for upwards of $150. I'm not that big of a fan, though.
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  5. #5
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    Have you had luck with clousers for rainbows ?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Shallow Minded View Post
    Have you had luck with clousers for rainbows ?
    I haven't.

    An olive beadhead woolly bugger will do work, though.

    If'n I was gonna tie a Clouser for rainbow trout I'd say a 4 or 6 would about the right size.
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  7. #7
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    I have not used clousers for rainbows enough times to say if they work or not. I am open to any and all experienced advice. For example, if not used for rainbows, what do you/would you use them for?
    Last edited by WoodieSC; 07-26-2019 at 02:20 PM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by WoodieSC View Post
    I have not used clousers for rainbows enough times to say if they work or not. I am open to any and all experienced advice. For example, if not used for rainbows, what do you/would you use them for?
    I mean, I'm sure you could use a Clouser on Rainbows. Just fish it like a heavy streamer.

    I've caught bonefish on a Clouser pattern. People catch redfish, smallmouth, stripers on Clousers. I'm almost positive I watched Big Brother catch a Pacific Tuna on a Clouser.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mobetter View Post
    I mean, I'm sure you could use a Clouser on Rainbows. Just fish it like a heavy streamer.

    I've caught bonefish on a Clouser pattern. People catch redfish, smallmouth, stripers on Clousers. I'm almost positive I watched Big Brother catch a Pacific Tuna on a Clouser.
    Interesting. I’ve never fly fished for anything other than rainbows, but hope to get to my brother’s place in FL and try for bonefish one of these days... and get down to the SC coast for redfish. I haven’t been down there but one time since my in-laws moved up here from Pawleys in 2004.
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  10. #10
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    Clousers are my least favorite fly to fish. They really hurt when they hit you in the back of the head and if they ping a graphite rod, it can ruin it. Gotchas and Crazy Charlies can be tied with chain bead eyes so they're not so damn heavy. IMO, a weighted fly defies the whole reason for using a fly rod in the first place.

  11. #11
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    I haven't tied a fly in ten years. I used to tie clousers for rockfish.
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    I thought about tying my own flys once. Then I found Big Y Fly Company after I learned most of the shops in my area were buying from them, and companies like them. Hard to justify tying something when you can buy it for less than 50 cent sometimes.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by huntinghagen#12 View Post
    I thought about tying my own flys once. Then I found Big Y Fly Company after I learned most of the shops in my area were buying from them, and companies like them. Hard to justify tying something when you can buy it for less than 50 cent sometimes.
    I never tied to save money. It's a lot like reloading. By the time you buy all the equipment, manuals, components, etc., you have already amortized a lot of factory ammo. I tie to make flies I can't find or especially to make flies that don't exist. When I can find a killer fly that's available in a store, I have zero compunction about shucking out the cash to let someone else do the tedious work of tying. There are some flies that simply aren't available commercially. There are very few flies that can't be improved by tailoring them to specific conditions. By tying your own, you can adjust weight, color, sink rate, make them weedless, etc.

    I spent a lot of time perfecting a good spoonfly for tailing spottails. It was fun, for a a while, but Randy Hamilton spoonfies are as good as any I made and WAY cheaper if I factor in the value of my time. It's still gratifying to catch a fish on a fly you tied yourself, especially on a pattern you made up. Fly tying is a hobby in itself, even if you never wet the flies.

  14. #14
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    ^agreed. I have peanut butter containers full of flies that I've tied over the years that have never touched water and very likely never will.

    Woodie, wooly buggers are very effective and can be bought anywhere. Another one I used to use for trout is basically a wooly bugger, but without a hackle feather palmered around the shank. So basically just a maribou tail and then chenile wrapped to the eye. Similar to a schminnow (google) but without the eyes.

    Like Palmetto Bug, I don't enjoy throwing clousers. They are an extremely effective pattern, but they can ruin your day on a windy day if you're not careful.

  15. #15
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    I also have 100s of clousers, crazy crazy charlies, woolly boogers, crabs, mantis shrimps, etc that I have tied over the years that I know will never touch the water. I like them being where they are for some reason.

  16. #16
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    All but the chamois worms. They go in the water.

  17. #17
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    Don't claim to know much but I've fished clousers for trout, bream and bass. I've tied and used #14 foxy closers for as small as 9" trout to one bass at 9 1/2 lbs. Just depends on the size of bait you are trying to imitate or the line you plan to throw it on. Those look fine. I tie the underwing to the shank with crisscrossing wraps. Keeps the fibers from fouling on the hook.
    Last edited by Spur hunter; 08-03-2019 at 06:11 PM.
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