Clouser Deep Minnow

the world as simply a “Clouser,“ this pattern shows up in almost every list of must-have flies for a good reason: it’s the first truly effective fly for fishing deeper water. When drifted or swung in current or retrieved in still water, the dumbbell weight makes the Clouser quickly sink while creating a unique darting, jigging motion. At the same time, the bucktail flows and breathes while maintaining its profile.

The Clouser can catch dozens of fresh- and saltwater species, but it was specifically created to catch smallmouth bass in Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna River. Four decades later, it’s still a hall-of-fame bass pattern. I have Clousers in colours ranging from pink to black, but for northern bass, especially smallies, I love the crayfish-gobysculpin colour scheme of the one pictured here. It’s also tied bushy for use in rivers, where the flowing water animates the bucktail. For still water, I tie mine 50 per cent sparser, so the fibres move more. If I had to pick just one bass pattern, I’d take a handful of twoinch brown Clousers, plus some bigger ones, in chartreuse/white or grey/white, and be confident of catching fish anywhere in Canada.

WING: NATURAL BROWN OR DYED BUCKTAIL, OVER 6 TO 8 STRANDS OF KRYSTAL FLASH »