Help! Need some hook advice...

[famill00]

Hello, I was wondering what hook you tie your Clouser Minnow's on? I am new to tying and was suggested by the associate at Cabela's to tie the Clouser on a Tiemco 200R. Have any of you tied the Clouser on this particular hook? Is it ok that i tie it on this hook? I have done about a half dozen so far and they seem ok.. Thanks!

-Forrest

[MoscaPescador]

There are a lot of different hooks that you can use.

For size 2 to 3/0, I like using Eagle Claw EC413 60 degree jig hooks.

For size 4 to 8, I use Tiemco TMC 811s.

MP

[Ian Mann 4]

Originally Posted by famill00

Hello, I was wondering what hook you tie your Clouser Minnow's on? I am new to tying and was suggested by the associate at Cabela's to tie the Clouser on a Tiemco 200R. Have any of you tied the Clouser on this particular hook? Is it ok that i tie it on this hook? I have done about a half dozen so far and they seem ok.. Thanks!

-Forrest

That hook is fine for a clouser. I wouldn't get to wrapped around the axle about following a recipe. There are several variants for both fresh and salt water and is one of the most versatile flies out there.

IMO when someone says clouser, I think of it as particular tying style rather than a specific recipe.

[peregrines]

Forrest-

Great stuff, welcome to tying—sounds like you’re having fun. Most any streamer, nymph or standard shank hook in size 6 or so and larger should work well for clousers, and you may get a lot of different answers from folks as to their favorite hook.

But for what it's worth, for clousers, I generally use standard length, straight shank hooks (as opposed to the Tiemco 200r which is 3x long with a curved shank). I think of the Tiemco 200r as more of a hook for long bodied dry flies like grasshoppers and Stimulators (a pattern imitating adult stoneflies) or as a good stonefly nymph hook or for some “swimming nymph” patterns. As an aside, Bob Clouser has an easy-to-tie swimming nymph pattern that’s a great smallmouth and carp fly. You can see it here: Clouser Swimming Nymph

Not that you couldn’t use the 200r for Clouser Minnows, but for the any given length of hook, for a Clouser you’d probably be better off with a standard shank hook with a wider gape (larger hook size) than the 3xlong shank of a 200r with a smaller size hook gap. For example, a standard shank size 2 hook would be about the same length as a 3x long Tiemco 200r in size 6. The Tiemco 200r is also expensive compared to some other hook choices.

If you’ll be mostly throwing them for freshwater bass, crappies and such, then it would be tough to beat the Mustad 3366 - it’s an inexpensive, standard length straight shank hook (Bob Clouser, ties a lot of his freshwater Clouser Minnows on them).

But Clousers are also very effective for a wide range of saltwater fish too, so if there’s a good chance you’ll be fishing in the salt on trips, you might want to consider tying some on SW hooks and use them in both fresh water and salt. These are all good choices for SW clousers:

Mustad 3407DT – an inexpensive saltwater hook, standard length shank I tie a lot of different saltwater flies on these hooks, for SW clousers ranging from size 4 to 2/0 (but mostly size 2)

Mustad 34007 – a more expensive stainless steel SW hook, (but the same dimensions as the 3407)

Tiemco 800S- another good choice, and sharper out of the box and probably better overall quality than the Mustads, but these are a even more expensive.

Some other stuff about clousers--- for thread i like to use Danvilles flat waxed nylon --- it's strong (breaking strength of around 5 lbs) so you can crank down a bit to lock the beadchain or dumbell eyes in place, and because it lies flat it doesn't build up too much bulk. After you take your figure 8 wraps around the beadchain or dumbbell eyes, take a few turns of thread between the shank and the eyes to cinch the figure 8 wraps real tight-- this will help prevent the eyes from loosening and flopping over to one side.

As far as weight, be aware that throwing heavily weighted clousers with dumbbell eyes can be hard on graphite rods, and cause stress fractures if they ding the rod during a cast-- so you may want to start off with lighter beadchain eyes if you're not used to throwing them (they're a little more manageable to cast).

Keep asking questions--- materials can be very confusing. And feel free to post pics of your flies if you want some constructive feedback.

good luck!