I have always used my fly rod for trout and steelhead but I am thinking of expanding my horizions and venturing out for some LMB and SMB. I am going to sit down and tie some clousers up. What hook size would you recomend for bass.
Born to fish forced to work.
Alan
For bass I like about a sz4 to sz1.I rarely go larger than that,even for most of my saltwater flies.The Mustad 3366 is a good,inexpensive hook for Clousers also.Even though I like Clousers for bass,I do better with wolly buggers,usually in olive or black in szs 6 or 8.
I agree with Skip in that I very rarely go any larger than a size 1 hook for bass. I do on the other hand often go smaller than a size 4. I’ve caught plenty of bass in the 4-5 lb range on size 10 or even 12 leech patterns. What makes me move up to a large size is mainly the tying materials taking up so much of the hook gap like when spinning deer hair or making poppers. If I could only have two flies to fish for bass they would be a black mohair leech tied on a size 6 hook and a polar fiber minnow in chartruese over white tied on a size four hook. With these two patterns, I have caught hundreds of bass in all sizes from really tiny dinks upto 9+ pound fish. Keep in mind that I am talking about LM bass. For smallies, I’d want a pattern that more resembles a crayfish/leech cross depending on how you fish it. Good luck.
Jim Smith
Thanks Guys.
Born to fish forced to work.
Alan
F4T, if you can tie a Clouser, tie in the weight as usual, then add a zonker strip over the weight. I use black or olive for bass, white for crappie and walleye. Size 6-10 works just fine, although I usually opt for a 8 or 10 dry fly or streamer hook. Wrap the head, come under the weight and wrap thread to just above the hook point, then back again. Finish off the head. Miminalist all the way. What you’ll have then is a Gill Buster. For LMB I cast into the edge then bounce it out into deeper water with short, jerky strips. An easy fly to tie, a deadly one to fish. YOu should have a good time with one. JGW
[This message has been edited by white43 (edited 05 June 2006).]
I like to use a 4x long size 4 hook(mustad 79580). We can catch any fish in the lake with this hook even if we are primarily fishing for LM. I even Use this hook for an occasional popper
I am used to tying #18 and #20. These things are going to seem huge!
Born to fish forced to work.
Alan
Oh I’m sure. I get some flies in swaps from trout folks that I would never be able to tie. Way too small. I don’t know how people do it. JGW
I agree with the advice on the board. The deadliest fly I’ve used this spring has been the #6 beadhead wooly bugger, black with some flash. It picks up large bluegill, crappie, and pickerel too but filters out the little guys. It’s outperformed the larger stuff I’ve chucked (but I have not tested the clouser yet this season).
As a trout fisher you will also have to change the way you set the hook or you will lose the bigger fish. Your rod should be on the water and when you set the hook your rod should not come above 9 O’clock. Here in OK we use 12 lb tippet which will also seem huge.
okflyfisher is absolutely right. My rod tip is often in the water itself, and the hook set is via a straight and firm line pull. Keep the slack out of the line at all times.
Alan,
I usually fish small and even a #14 seems big. If you have any big huge hoppers try those.
I spent a weekend recently catching largemouths on clousers tied with a #6 TIEMCO 200R, with my 4 weight! Loads of fun from the float tube. Another good pattern is a bunny leach.
Have fun,
Greg
Well I was able to scrape together some bucktail from an old fly tying kit I got for christmas many years ago and tied a couple of Clousers. I used a size 4 Tiemco 800S. They came out pretty well. I also have a pretty good supply of Wooly Buggers and Bunny Leeches in various colors so hopfully I will get a chance to give them a shot in the next few days. I am really looking forward to trying something new. Thank you everybody for your suggestions I will let you know how I fair.
Born to fish forced to work.
Alan
Friends;
I do not know what size your bass are but I use a 9 wt setup and throw a 2/0 clouser the same one I head out for snook or speckle trout.
I have caught bass on smaller hooks but when I am going for bass the smallest hook I use is 2/0.
The biggest bass so far on the fly rod is 10lb 4oz this fish was released to make big babies.
I keep all color of the clousers in my box, I tend to fish stained water so bright colors are my favorites.
If you are fishing for smaller bass then smaller hooks would be acceptable.
Keep fishing and catching. Also Jim Hatch has some killer bass flys that he makes for top water. Nothing beats catching a big bass on top water. Well maybe a new boat but that would be all…
Go get em
Harold
After you’ve tied all of the above suggestions Try tying the largest wolly bugger you can. It should be olive and at least 4-5 inches long. A 1/0 streamer hook works good. You’ll need a little weight, I prefer led wrapped in the middle of the hook, just enough to get it to sink slowly. I don’t like putting flash on this one, just keep it natural.
If you need to work it deep put a small split shot up half way on the leader, this way the bugger will dance. I hate buggers that are too heavy, it makes it harder to finess it.
Big bass like big flies so make sure you have enough tippet to handle the big boys.
Good Luck
Hmmmm?
Clouser, generally a baitfish immi comes to mind first. OK, what size baitfish? I would use a hook sized accordingly, from #10 to #2/0. Same proceedure if you’re useing the bug to immi crawdads…what size crawdad?
jargo…sounds a lot like something we use, big bugger tied with a rabbit strip tail. Tossed ONto the bank and pulled into the water can be exciting. 
…lee s.
Lee S
Sounds like worth trying. Kinda like a cross between a leech and a bugger. Bass like flies they’ve never seen B4 I’ll have to go tie one.