Clouser Minnow

This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Clouser Minnow.

Clouser Minnow | www.johnkreft.com

This Clouser Minnow is one a friend gave me a couple of years ago.

Bob Clouser invented the Clouser Minnow in 1987 to imitate smallmouth bass on the Susquehanna River.

My quick research found the fly was named by Lefty Kreh as the Clouser Deep Minnow. He used the fly in fresh and saltwater and has caught over 87 species of game fish using the fly.

A #2 saltwater hook was used for the original fly with a white bucktail belly, gold Krystal Flash and natural brown bucktail for the wing. The other color was tied with white bucktail for the belly, silver Krystal Flash, and gray-dyed bucktail.

The Clouser Minnow can be tied in a other popular colors including tan and white, white and black, chartreuse and white, and brown and white.

Tying the eyes on the bottom of the hook inverts the fly so it doesn’t hang up on the bottom. In addition, the heavy eyes cause the fly to have a jigging motion when fished.

The Clouser Minnow is still a very popular streamer pattern. If you haven’t tried one, you’re missing out!

Enjoy…go fish!

Similar Posts

  • Silver Lady – TBT

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Silver Lady, a fly tied by Roderick Haig-Brown (1908 – 1976). I took this picture of the Silver Lady through the glass display in a dark room and I think it turned out quite well. It was one of several flies in the collection and I plan to…

  • Roy Steenrod’s Light Hendrickson

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Roy Steenrod’s Light Hendrickson. In this week’s post entitled Using Wood Duck, Mallard, and Teal Feathers for Fly Tying, I tied a Quill Gordon fly and decided to look for another classic Catskill fly pattern to highlight for this week’s TBT. I found the Light Hendrickson in Eric Leiser’s…

  • Polly’s Muskrat Nymph

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Polly’s Muskrat Nymph. A couple of weeks ago, I presented Polly’s Fledermouse Nymph and thought since I had used muskrat, I’d highlight another nymph utilizing the same material. It’s a simple fly to tie with the most difficult aspect is locating the natural materials of muskrat and beaver. This…

  • Blonde Wulff

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is a Blonde Wulff, tied by Dan Bailey. Lee Wulff (1905 – 1991) created the Royal Wulff in 1930 along with the Gray Wulff and White Wulff. The Gray Wulff was the first of the series. He fished all three fly patterns on the Esopus River in the Catskill mountains of New…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *