Cold Water Clouser

[larry sommerfeld]

I'm going fishing Friday - weather permitting. I plan to tie some experimental "Cold Water Clousers" and give them a try. They will be the normal chartreuse/white with three exceptions:

1-Replace the lead eyes with bead chain eyes to make the fly almost weightless.
2-Tie the fly with the longest bucktail I have. The finished fly will be 6 or 7 inches long.
3-Tie in a second hook. The HaHa hook will be snelled on 50 lb. mono and placed well back in the bucktail so that it doesn't foul. Hopefully, I will suprise some short striking fish.

I don't know if any of this stuff will work, but What the Heck, it will give me somehing to do on a rainy day.

[jbird]

Larry

Another one you might wanna try is using rabbit strip in place of bucktail...like a double bunny. Nothing pulses and dances like rabbit fur, even when its slowly sinking on the pause.

Jay

[Darian]

Have heard of a Cold Water Clouser (version) before but never with a teaser hook. Especially tied with a relatively long tether. :? :? Altho you mentioned that the long hair/tether should keep the wing/teaser from wrapping around the bend of the hook, seems like that would make it difficult to cast and more easily wrapped around the bend of the hook.... :? :?

The longer tether is usually associated with a trolling fly. 8) I'll be interested in hearing how the fly handles in the wind, etc. 8) 8)

[JerryInLodi]

Larry, wind predictions for the delta for Friday are pretty discouraging with winds of 15-25 MPH. It's already blowing 15mph at the Sugarbarge right now, Thursday at 4:15. Saturday is supposed to be a much nicer day as far as winds are concerned but you'll have to put up with some morning fog.

The water temperature had jumped to almost 47 on Wednesday afteroon but the new front and low morning temperatures will probably force another drop, hopefully to just where it was at 45 and no lower.

I had my boat out of the water Wednesday changing the oil, lower unit, etc. Geez what a stupid move. It was the best day of the week to fish!

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I hear of some local Delta Striper guys using slower sinking lines now and long, skinny slower sinking flies too in the colder water.

Good luck.

[larry sommerfeld]

It was a tough day. AccuWeather said winds 15 gusting to 20. Out on the Delta, it was more like winds 20 gusting to 30. AccuWeather also said that the wind would be diminishing in the evening. I got a late start - hoping for the diminishing wind (which never happened). The wind was more powerful than my Minn Kota, so I spent most of the afternoon fighting the boat. I've fished in stronger wind, I just don't remember when.

The "Cold Water Clouser" worked well. The fly tuned out about 6 inches long. The second hook was tied in about 4 inches back and 180 degrees from the main hook. (The primary hook pointed up, the second hook pointed down). The fly casted about the same as a regular Clouser. I think the lighter weight eyes compensated for the longer bucktail. I had no trouble with the second hook fouling on the main hook or anything else. The 50 lb. mono seemed to be stiff enough to keep it from flapping around. I think some of you board members that are more into fly typing than I am may want to play with this. We could come up with our own "Kiene Clouser".

Oh yeah, 2 fish - 5# and 7# both on the Ha Ha hook.

[JerryInLodi]

Larry, casting a fly with two hooks in winds that sometimes reached 40 mph according to the wind gust register at the Sugar Barge should earn you some type of hero's medal. I stayed home and cleaned the yard. I'll be out tomorrow. I'd be happy to stick two fish with the water temperatures at 46.

[Darian]

I'm with Jerry,.... You deserve a medal. What was the distance on your casts :?: :?: :?:

Altho I'm usually supportive of tying innovations, I'm still in the camp that doesn't subscribe to using a stinger on this type of fly. My main concern revolves around the safety of casting; not the catching. 8) 8)

[larry sommerfeld]

"When you're casting with the wind, you can cast so far you can't buy that much line." - Lefty Kreh

I was fishing alone, so I had the luxury of positioning the boat to best advantage. I'm left handed, so I try to position the boat so that the wind is blowing across my body right to left. A couple of times, I tried casting directly into the wind - that didn't work out too well.

Your safey concerns are valid. I've Clousered myself twice in past years. The second time, a scalpel was required to remove the hook, but that's a subject for another thread.