Companion question for clousers

[TomW]

Lots of good responses to Joe Cool's color question.

My question is what size /weight eyes do you use with regards to hook size and/or depth of water you intend to fish.

Thanks
Tom

[tailingloop]

I use quite a variety of eye sizes and types from small 1/100 oz lead to 1/8 oz lead to bead chain, to brass, to aluminum, and others. I tie Clouser minnows and variants on hooks from size 12 to 6/0. I have a couple of plano boxes loaded with more than three dozen combinations of eyes and sizes.

I choose the eyes for the effect I want and to balance the fly. I might want larger eyes for attraction purposes. I might want heavier or lighter eyes to cause fly to sink or dip faster or slower.

With heavy eyes, if you don't have enough other material to add some bulk, the fly will cast like a lead weight. If the eyes are light and there is too much material, the fly will not ride hook point up or will not behave properly.

I don't have a specific set of rules that I follow other than the guidelines I listed above. As to eye weight and depth, I don't think like that. I think about the action I want in a fly. I use different fly lines to work the flies at different depths, not the weight of the fly. I might fish a heavily weighted fly in three feet of water if I want a more pronounced jigging action, or a lighter fly if I want a slower sinking fly or something with a less pronounced action. With fast and super fast sinking lines, I tend towards using more heavily weighted flies because most of the time I want to ensure that the fly sinks faster than the fly line. If the line is deeper than the fly it is more difficult to detect strikes.

[Normand]

My question is what size /weight eyes do you use with regards to hook size and/or depth of water you intend to fish.

Thanks
Tom

that question came up on another board and here is the answer:

"Eyes:

Hook size 8-10-12 Wt. ? oz 1/100 Size spec Mini Dia. in. 4/32
Hook size 1-4 Wt. ? oz 1/50 Size spec x-small Dia. in. 5/32
Hook size 2-1 Wt. ? oz 1/36 Size spec Small Dia. in. 3/16
Hook size 1-3/0 Wt. ? oz 1/24 Size spec Med Dia. in. 7/32
Wt. ? oz 1/18 Dia. in. 1/4
Wt. ? oz 1/10 Dia. in. 9/32

Here's a chart I worked up. These are lead eyes I am not sure if one would make changes with brass or tungsten."

[Buddy Sanders]

Tom,

Charts are fine, but only scratch the surface of the concept of the Clouser.

Clousers are a great fly precisely because you can 'adjust' them to fit certain applications.

You can adjust the bulk of the flie's materials, which can change both it's silhouette and how it falls.

You can adjust the placement of the eyes on the shank, more forward and the fly will dive more nose first when it's paused, back farther and the fly will drop more horizontal, etc.

You can adjust the weight of the eyes. Heavier weights will give you a more 'active' fly, lighter ones will give you a more subtle fly. For the same retrieve speed, heavier flies will run deeper (but not as much as you'd think).

Like Tailingloop, I use weighted lines to achieve depth most times. I use weight on the fly itself to fine tune it's ACTION.

So, when I decide what weight eyes to use on a Clouser, it depends on what that fly is intended to do. A fly that I may want to fish fast in shallow water for active fish will get heavier eyes than one I want to work slowly deep in cold water.

A small fly with heavier weigth will drop faster. A large fly with lighter weight will glide in the water. Combine this with where on the shank you put the eyes, sparser or bulkier materials, and you can fine tune the action of the fly to suit particular applications.

ALWAYS use a loop knot to attach a Clouser to your line.

Buddy