Tying Clousers

[vapor10]

Originally Posted by Rip Tide

Don't buy the cheapest vise
They don't hold hooks well and will only cause frustration
I'm all about cheap, ask anyone , but that's a mistake

here's a good review of vises
Fly Tying Vises In-Depth Review by Fly Fish Ohio!

One more thing. The lead eyes you chose are too large for the hooks
Try small first as they're easier to cast, medium if you cast weighted flies well.

These instead?

Lead Eyes-M-24/pkg
Dumbell shaped plain lead eyes. May be used as is or painted. Serves as fly eyes and as a weight. 7/32 diameter. .04 oz.


or


Lead Eyes-S-24/pgk
Dumbell shaped plain lead eyes. May be used as is or painted. Serves as fly eyes and as a weight. 6/32 diameter. .03 oz.

[Rip Tide]

Yeah, get both and try them out for size.
They're cheap enough

I haven't bought tying supplies from Hook&Hackle since the "new" owner Ron took over 4-5years ago.
I was a long time good customer of the old owner Bob, but I never bought "natural materials" like buck tails and strung hackle from him.... He sold junk.
Like I said.... I haven't dealt with the new owner, but I'd be careful.
I'd call and ask about the size and quality of the tails before I'd sent in my order.

[vapor10]

So where would you recommend I shop?

---------- Post added at 05:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:42 PM ----------

Im thinking of just getting something like this:

JS Fly Fishing: Rod Building, Fly Tying: J. Stockard Economy Fly Tying Vise & Tool Kit

Cabelas has something similar.

[williamhj]

The vise in the kit looks similar to the one I bought, which has worked fine, though I think about upgrading. I don't know about the tools. I got Dr. Slick through Stockard and have been very happy with them.

[vapor10]

How about this at JS


SKU Product MFR Qty Price Subtotal
SM-730020-1105 Lead Dumbbell Eyes - plated (shiny) / small Hareline $1.65 $3.30
SM-730020-1106 Lead Dumbbell Eyes - plated (shiny) / medium Hareline $1.65 $3.30
HK-049366-G002 Classic 3366 Hook - size 2 Mustad $4.75 $4.75
HK-049366-G004 Classic 3366 Hook - size 4 Mustad $4.75 $4.75
TW-030030-WHIT 3/0 UNI-Thread Mono Waxed - white UNI Products $1.75 $3.50
NM-775015-CHAT Large Northern BuckTail - chartreuse Hareline $4.85 $9.70
NM-775015-FLBL Large Northern BuckTail - fluor. blue Hareline $4.85 $9.70
NM-775015-RRED Large Northern BuckTail - red Hareline $4.85 $9.70
NM-775015-WHIT Large Northern BuckTail - white Hareline $4.85 $9.70
OF-900098-0000 Hard as Hull Hareline $3.95 $3.95
OF-902100-0000 Economy Fly Tying Vise & Tool Kit J. Stockard $26.38 $26.38
SM-760060-SILV Krystal Flash - silver (solid) Hareline $3.45 $3.45
SM-760100-SILV Flashabou - silver Hedron $3.65 $3.65
NM-790200-GREN Ringneck Pheasant Tail Pair - green Hareline $2.25 $2.25
NM-790200-ORNG Ringneck Pheasant Tail Pair - orange Hareline $2.25 $2.25
Your Total is $100.33

[Rip Tide]

Originally Posted by vapor10

So where would you recommend I shop?

Don't misunderstand. I like Hook&Hackle. That's been my main catalog/on-line shop since the '70s. You'll get a fair deal and they're all about keeping prices down.
However, with the former owner, the cheapest wasn't always the best and I learned to pick my feathers and fur in person, or at least on the phone instead of just ordering and waiting to see what I ended up with.
You can call H&H and they'll honestly set you up with what you really need. Nothing more and nothing less. That's what they do there.

[peregrines]

Vapor what kind of fish will you be chasing?

The clouser is a great fly and works on all kinds of gamefish in both salt water and fresh water.

If you are going to fish in saltwater, a hook like the Mustad 34007 which is a stainless steel hook, or the less expensive Mustad 3407DT (DT = Dura Tin coating) won't corrode as readily as a freshwater hook. I use both in SW and actually prefer the less expensive 3407DT to the more expensive stainless 34007.

The Mustad 3366 is a fine hook for clousers if you're chasing smallmouth or largemouth, but if you'll be chasing striped bass, bluefish or redfish and other stuff in saltwater, then you'll want to tie them on "saltwater" hooks-- and if you'll be doing a bit of both in salt and fresh, then you may as well tie them on saltwater hooks since they'll be good for both environments.

For tying clousers, at least to start, I'd suggest a stronger thread like Danville's Flat Waxed Nylon-- it has a higher breaking strength than 6/0 or 3/0 thread, and you can apply more tension to the dumbbell or beadchain eyes to lock them in place and prevent them from spinning around the hook. You can certainly use 6/0 or 3/0 thread, but you'll probably break it a lot more often until you have tied a bunch and developed a feel for working with the thinner thread. In addition to white I would also get a spool of chartreuse thread-- chartreuse or chartreuse over white bucktail tied with chartreuse thread are a pretty standard pattern for both saltwater and freshwater fish all over the world.

Many of us that tie saltwater stuff including clousers also use Sally Hansen's Hard As Nails (available in any drug store etc) in place of head cement.

Also be aware that casting heavily weighted stuff like clousers around can be a bit hazardous-- to both the back of the head and face-- but also to the rod. A clouser that dings the blank on a back cast can easily shatter a blank on the spot-- or result in a weak spot caused by a stress fracture in the graphite-- this may not be apparent until days or weeks later when the tip of your rod just flops over while casting.

One suggestion is to get a length of bead chain from a hardware store and cut the chain into pairs of beads with a pair of pliers and use them instead of dumbbell eyes-- they'll have less weight and slower sink rate, but they'll be easier to cast.

Since you're getting those materials for clousers I would also suggest you add a 1/4 oz pack of strung peacock herl (about $2) and a pack or two of pearlescent or silver flat braided metallic mylar sold as "diamond braid", "sparkle braid" etc (also about $2).

With the bucktail, flash, and thread you use for clousers you can tie a ton of bucktail streamers to imitate baitfish-- 4 or 6 strands of peacock herl makes a great topping over a bucktail wing and looks like the back of many baitfish. The silver or pearl flat mylar braid can be easily wound around the shank as a body.