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Clouser
I'm sure Pennsylvanian Bob Clouser had no idea the level of impact
his minnow imitation, tied originally for smallmouth bass, would
have on flyfishing in general and saltwater flyfishing in particular.
Lefty Kreh claims more than forty species on this little fly, and
it may endanger Lefty's own 'deceiver' for versatility and applicability.
We tie them on hooks from #8 to 4/0. They come in a myriad of colors,
literally from black to white and nearly every combination in between.
In this area the "Seminole (Florida State University) Clouser"
is quite popular. It's tied with garnet and faded orange bucktail
and gold flash in between. As with any highly successful item, the
clouser has been criticized as not being a fly, but rather a jig.
But now its popularity overcomes any pseudo-purism…I think
in part because it works so well. On the Emerald Coast the clouser
is the single most effective fly for trout, redfish, jacks, Spanish,
and ladyfish. Without a box of chartreuse clousers, you're sort
of "un-armed".
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Marabou
- Seaducer
Orange is the color of the egg sacs of most salt water crustaceans,
so orange is often used in saltwater fly fishing. This orange marabou
seaducer has a little estaz over the shank before palmering the hackle.
This one also has no eyes; we shoot it out on a tight loop to tailing
reds in very shallow water. The target is "within the length
of a dollar bill"…real close. This fly lights softly yet
produces a large silhouette. |
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Paul
Darby's "Junk Yard Dawg"
This one is a #2. It has orange and tan estaz, a palmered cree hackle,
splayed cree over tan calf fur for the tail. The redfish love it crawled
across sandy bottoms and big gator trout love it on the fall. |
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Estaz
Seaducer
Here's a popular spin off of the famous seaducer pattern with
more conventional tails and estaz added to the shank before palmering
the hackle. This one works well sight fishing for sheephead. |
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Glass
Minnow
Here's
a very popular north Florida pattern. This one is tied especially
for spanish mackerel (note the exposed hook shank which obviates
the need for as much bite tippet required for such fun but toothy
critters). We tie and fish this from size 2 to 8 depending on
the target and the size of glass minnow in the water. Though always
sparse the body/wing can be varied. Polar flash makes a particularly
shiny and life like glass minnow. This one is of crystal flash.
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Jack
Gartside's "Gurgler"
The only thing I've found that will out-fish a standard popper when
the trout (or reds for that matter) want something on top. It works
day or night, over shallow or deep bottoms. Sometimes they want
it moving, sometimes just sitting (or floating along with the tide).
And, it casts much easier than your standard popper. Jacks, ladyfish,
trout and redfish eat these things up.
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