Deep Clouser Minnow Streamer

The Pattern That’s Caught Almost Everything.

Bob Clouser tied the original Clouser Minnow in 1987 for smallmouth bass on Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna River. It’s gone on to take dozens of species across fresh and saltwater since, often cited as one of the most productive streamer patterns ever designed. This version keeps the dumbbell-eye jigging action that made the original work and pairs it with an inverted hook orientation built for fishing tight to structure.

Why It Rides Hook-Point-Up

The dumbbell eyes are mounted so the hook eye sits on top and the point rides underneath. When the fly contacts bottom, it lands on the eyes instead of the hook point. That means you can work rocky ledges, oyster bars, and submerged structure without losing flies every few casts. You’ll still hang up sometimes since that’s just structure fishing, but a lot less than with a standard streamer hook orientation.

The weighted eyes also do double duty. They get the fly down fast, and they create a jigging motion on the strip that often triggers strikes from fish that wouldn’t react to a slower presentation.

Why the Wing Is Tied Sparse

The bucktail compresses on the cast so it flies cleanly, then flares out underwater for a bigger, more natural profile. A few strands of Flashabou add flash without overdoing it. Dense flies don’t move right in the water, so this one is tied sparse on purpose.

How to Fish It

Standard retrieve is 6-inch strips with a short pause between each one, which lets the dumbbell eyes do their jigging thing. For more aggressive fish, try longer rips to trigger a reaction strike. In current, you can also let it swing and dead-drift like a jig.

Color choice: Pink/white reads as shrimp or shad and works well in brackish water and low light. Chartreuse/white is a high-visibility attractor for stained water and overcast days. Yellow/white passes for perch or sunfish and works in clearer water when fish are keyed on smaller baitfish.

Common Questions

Will this snag less than a standard Clouser? Yes, noticeably. The inverted orientation keeps the hook point up off the bottom most of the time, so you can fish closer to structure with more confidence. You’ll still hang up occasionally since that’s part of fishing rocky or snaggy water.

How deep does it fish? Depends on your line and how long you let it sink before stripping. A floating line with a long leader keeps it shallower. An intermediate or sinking line, combined with a longer countdown before your first strip, gets it deeper. Count down longer in slower current, shorter in fast current.

Can I use this in saltwater? The #2 size is built for inshore saltwater species like redfish, snook, and seatrout. Rinse it in fresh water after each saltwater trip. The #6 is mainly a freshwater size but holds up fine in brackish water too.

Specs