Perch/pikeperch flies

I’ve already explained our (stupid) fishing laws, so I don’t have many destinations to go fishing at the moment, and the few waters I do like, have a lot of angling pressure, the water level is too high and it’s very murky (I’ve tried it a few days ago). So that leaves me some canals (which means a lot of concrete, and a good chance to hook a car or a bicycle). That also means more pikeperch than pike, and I will have to fish deep, without hooking anything at the bottom.

And the best proven pattern to do this is a Clouser Minnow.

These are all about 7 cm long, tied on a Kamasan B-800, Size 4. I’ve used goat hair instead of the traditional bucktail, which gives the flies less volume but a livelier action in the water.

 

yellow/orange/black,

and white/yellow/black

Here I’ve put the eyes very close to the hook eye (5 mm). So these will have a jigging action.

 

white/yellow/black

Here I’ve put the eyes a lot further (15 mm) from the hook eye to create a sliding motion.

 

white/yellow/black,

yellow/orange/black,

and white/yellow/red

This is how I like them the most. The eyes are about 10 mm from the hook eye. This causes the fly to swim similar to a jig, with a slight sliding motion (like a traditional Clouser Minnow).

I’ve started to tie them entirely with synthetic materials, but more on that later…