Clouser size for crappie
I bought some clousers in a size 10 to fish for crappie but with the dumbell eyes and not enough hair they seem to be very top heavy.I have seen commercial ones in a size 6 but don't know if that size is too large for crappie,white bass.The one plus on the size 10's is that bream will hit them fairly well.What colors do you use most for them.Right now i have six different colors in the size 10's!
I use 'em in a size 6 a lot, mostly with bead chain eyes. Think about this... What size are the minnows or shad they are eating? A "small" minnow is about what that size 6 Clouser will look like. A shad that a white bass will be after is in the 3 to 4 inch range pretty easy. I've done well on the white bass this past week with a size 1.
I'm far from an expert, but that's my 2 cents.
The Green Hornet strikes again!!!
I've tied and fished them as small as 14 for bluegill and small crappie. I'll generally go the 4, 6, or 8 route for whites and larger crappies, drum, and black bass. As to my favorite colors, the fish around here seem to like tan/white, chartreuse/white, brown/orange, blue/white, and all white with just a touch of red. Black/white is good just often enough that I always keep a couple in the box.
If it swims and eats, it'll eat a fly.
Kinda depends on the hook they were tied on. If it's the TMC 105 style hook, then you have the ultra short shank and yeah, it will be possibly be top or front heavy, but that's a good attribute IMO. I probably go with the TMC 105 in a #6 in general for the crappie and white bass. Never had a problem with short strikes or misses. I like red/white, red/chartruese, chartreuse/white as my go-to combos for crappie. White bass about the same.
I use #10 beadchain-eye Clousers quite a bit on my local public ponds for crappies & bluegills. I like Craft Fur instead of bucktail on these smaller sizes. Chartreuse is definitly the #1 color for me, and white with just a bit of red flash is another good one. I tied them with all combinations of blue, pink, brown, olive, chartreuse, red, and black. At times certain color combos do better than others, sometimes they will hit anything. I've caught fish on pretty much every color combo I've thrown. Blue is one that does surprisingly well for me at times. I use small or medium sizes of beadchain on this size.
For white bass, I think you can go bigger. Crappies can hit large baits, but I usually get the most action on smaller stuff.
David Merical
St. Louis, MO
Curtis Fry,
I really liked the link to the Fly Tying Tutorial Videos. I have it "bookmarked" to my "Favorites". Thanks....
Warren
Fly fishing and fly tying are two things that I do, and when I am doing them, they are the only 2 things I think about. They clear my mind.
The best hook and balance I like is the Clouser clones tied on a popper hook. The eyes seem to set better and are ALWAYS set just far enough back on the hook. I normally use Mustad 33900 size 6-12's.Originally Posted by Curtis Fry
For size, it depends what I'm fishing for - I don't have tons of crappie or white bass in the waters I fish frequently, but the bream / panfish that I do have seem to go for size 8 to 12. I use XSmall dumbell eyes and for colors I find chartreuse and blue to work best, either together or as one of them paired with another random color (i.e. blue/white, chartreuse/white, etc). One thing that seems to bring a lot more bites, for a reason I can't seem to explain, is adding a copper/ rootbeer colored flash in with the flies when I tie them.
Just my experience - your results may vary
-Pete
One thing i noticed the ones i bought the tyer used some form of white dumbells that are already showing paint chipping and have not even been used!
I ordered some mini deceivers in #6 yesterday,i'll see how they work,colors in blue-white,olive-white,and yellow.
Thought i'd shoot a pic of my five weight,St Croix Legend Ultra with a Galvan OB-3 reel with the blue-white mini deceivers i ordered.Now i see the difference in a clouser and a deceiver,cst croix legend and galvan ob3 003.jpglouser is made from deer hair fibers etc verses the maraboe type hair on the deceivers,they take up more room in the flybox too!
st croix legend and galvan ob3 002.jpg
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