clouser minnow. lake erie shiner style!

[fishaholic69]

I just made a few lake erie shiner clouser minnows. I used bead chain eyes for a slower sink rate and white bucktail for the bottom olive and flash for the midle and some of the black olive mixed for the top. alos wrapped shank with crystal flash. heres the pics what ya think? of course these will ride hook point up also.

[gutbomb]

I tie something very similar, but with one turn of red chenille right behind the eyes. I don't know if it makes it any more effective, but it rounds the pattern out nicely.

[fishaholic69]

thanks for the idea.



PS. made one with a lil red poly yarn for some gills just now. heres a look. crowded the eye a lil but oh well. will do better next time lol.

[ridgeliner]

I'm sure you are aware that the Emerald Shiner is a common bait fish in Lake Erie. I think an emerald green instead of the olive green would work better in Lake Erie.

[fishaholic69]

I am fully aware and thats why I made the pattern. I live a block away from lake erie and around alot of tributaries it feeds. I basically copied off some lake erie shiner patterns but made it into a clouser style pattern instead of the hook down epoxy one. every recipe I find for the lake erie shiner calls for olive bucktail. I have never seen emerald green bucktail. if so point me to it. have tried chartruese and white and caught a creek chub. also am gonna use pearl mylar body and olive zonker strips to make a minnow zonker type pattern also. I will try um out when I can and let ya kno if it works.

[fivedials]

Fishaholic69

Wow are your tying skills really coming along. Never be afraid to experiment. This really drives some of my friends nuts. I always get the "Yeah, it looks good but you didn't follow the recipe."

Can fish tell colors? Probably so; but, what they are more interested in is 'hey is that food?!' My Uncle Bob "Oldman" to those who knew him on this site, had so many different shades of flies it was like looking at a rainbow in a flybox. Fish weren't hitting one day he suggested a fly with purple in it. I thought he was nuts, but man did the fish fight over that fly.

Looking forward to your next fly.

Jim

[Joe Valencic]

I'm sure you are aware that the Emerald Shiner is a common bait fish in Lake Erie. I think an emerald green instead of the olive green would work better in Lake Erie.

That would be the common thinking, but in fact they look like this, but more often with a much darker olive back:



The Ohio Division of Wildlife describes then as follows:

" Emerald shiners are small, slender fish with a terminal mouth and rounded snout. The back is silvery while the sides are emerald to silvery blue from behind the gill covers to the base of the tail." https://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Home/spe...4/Default.aspx

A favorite local streamer pattern (Maric's Minnow) uses natural bucktail, white bucktail, red thread and crystal flash to replicate the color on the lateral line.

Joe

[ridgeliner]

I'm sure that your fly with the olive will catch fish. I should have been more clear with my answer. I tie a similar fly using kelly green or green bucktail (not emerald green). I've caught many panfish and even bass with my fly. A couple years ago out in Lake Erie fishing for perch with a 2 hook spreader in 45' - 50' of water I tried an experiment. On 1 hook was a live emerald shiner and on the other hook was 1 of my tied emerald shiners. Of course the live emerald shiner outfished the fly, but I did catch perch on the fly. I wasn't trying to say that you were wrong, I was just giving you other options to try. Remember: there are no fly tying police who will come and arrest you. Experiment and tie what works for you.

[fishaholic69]

ridge I never thought you said I was wrong or took anything as a diss. . I was just asking if you seen the emerald bucktail before cause I didn't. I just followed a recipe online that called for the olive. I have also heard of using brown for the top and orange underneath as a kind of sunfish pattern? maybe you could even use some olive on top. blue in the middle and yellow or orange on bottom for a sunfish? guess we just got to let are imaginations go on clouser patterns. any other color patterns work good for a clouser in freshwater for bass, gills and catfish?