How to Tie the New England Style Clouser Minnow

Learn how to the New England Style Clouser Minnow fly pattern including step-by-step instructions, a video tutorial, pictures, and much more. Improve your fly tying skills here.

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Taking the ever-famous Clouser Minnow and adding a New England twist to it, this variation is an excellent pattern when you need to quickly stock a box or imitate slender-bodied baitfish. Like the original Clouser, this fly has a nice jigging motion while a bucktail wing adds natural movement. The New England Clouser is a solid searching pattern for nearly all saltwater species, and it's also a dang good fly for fish like bass and even pike--this one's so good that our cameraman used it to catch his first striped bass. Tie it in any color scheme that you like or use it to match baits like silversides, sand eels, bay anchovies, and juvenile herring, it's hard to go wrong with this fly.

Materials:

We've put together a kit that contains all the materials you need to tie this exact fly pattern.

Click the button below to shop the selection.

• Hook: Tiemco 811S (size: 1/0; can be tied in sizes 10 through 5/0)
• Thread: UNI-Mono (size: .004")
• Eyes: Hareline Painted Lead Eyes (color: Red; can be tied in any color you like)
• Tail: Bucktail (color: White; can be tied in any color you like)
• Wing: Bucktail (color: Yellow; can be tied in any color you like)

Step 1

Start by laying a short thread base just behind the hook eye. Attach a pair of painted dumbbell eyes using firm figure-8 wraps, then lock them in place with several circular wraps around the base of the eyes.

Step 2

Rotate your vise or flip the hook so the point faces up. Tie in a generous clump of white bucktail on what is now the top of the hook shank — this will ride on the bottom of the fly when fishing.

Note: The bucktail should measure roughly 2–4 inches in length depending on the hook size you choose.

Step 3

Tie in 3–4 strands of pearl Flashabou alongside the white bucktail. Trim or let the strands extend just past the tips of the bucktail to add a subtle shimmer without overwhelming the profile.

Step 4

Tie in a clump of yellow bucktail on the same side as the white, keeping it roughly ½–1 inch shorter than the white bucktail to build a natural taper toward the tail.

Step 5

Complete the fly with 2–3 whip finishes and apply a drop of superglue or head cement to the thread wraps for durability.

Your Simple Clouser is ready to fish! There are endless color variations to this fly, post a pic of it on Instagram or Facebook and Tag TridentFly!