Fly Fishing Guru Clouser Shares Tips with Locals...
Have You Clousered Your Rod Lately?
Haha...Not quite "Driven Your Ford Lately" now is it...
Fly Fishing legend Bob Clouser tells these folks how to get er' done while casting his heavy flies.
The link to the full article is below...
Enjoy,
Duke
====================
Fly fishing guru Clouser shares tips with locals:
Thursday, March 16, 2006
By GEORGE THWAITES
Times-News
"ABINGDON - Pennsylvanian Bob Clouser isn't merely one of the most famous fly fishermen in America. His name has become part of the fly fishing lexicon during his own lifetime.
The chief reason is Clouser's Deep Minnow, which is arguably the best-known weighted streamer pattern in the world today. While several popular fly patterns bear his name, this one is certain to endure. If one fly fisherman asks another what he is using and is told, 'a Clouser,' that's usually enough said.
In fact, the Clouser Minnow has become such a fly fishing standard that Clouser's name has evolved into lower-case fly fishing jargon due to anglers' love-hate relationship with his fly.
'It got to where guys would make bad casts and they'd hit the rod tip and break it off. So they'd send it back to the factory and the factory guy would ask, "How did you break that?' And they'd say, "I hit it with a Clouser Minnow,'' said the 67-year-old Clouser, who was at the Virginia Creeper Fly Shop in Abingdon this past Saturday.
'It happened so often, they started calling it clousering your fly rod. They'd say, "No. We ain't replacing that. You clousered the rod.''
Clouser spent a couple of hours outside Abingdon's Virginia Creeper Fly Shop this past Saturday teaching area anglers how to avoid clousering their rod tips, themselves or innocent bystanders.
Even moderately proficient fly casters can find themselve struggling when they tie on a Clouser Minnow for the first time. Most fly anglers learn to cast flies that are virtually weightless. When they throw a heavy Clouser using the same strokes and rhythms they learned to cast Size 18 Blue Winged Olives, the result can be hazardous at worst and frustrating at best.
"Let's say we had 100 anglers here today. Usually about 90 will come to me for help about this. They realize that this is something different, and they're sure I wouldn't cast it like they do, or I sure wouldn't fish it," said Clouser, who also spent some quality time indoors at the shop giving fly tying demonstrations.
The casting techniques he taught Saturday were developed by the reknowned Lefty Kreh, Clouser's long-time fishing buddy and "probably the best fly fishing caster in the world." Kreh, who figured out how to throw heavy flies as one of saltwater fly fishing's major pioneers, passed these techniques on to Clouser years before his most famous fly was invented.
Clouser showed area anglers a modified side-cast that, among other things, keeps the caster's head and body out of harm's way. Essential to success is learning to throw a smooth, oval cast that keeps the fly in constant motion with no sudden stops that might generate shock and rebound. The zinging projectile riding the the fly line is tamed by follow-through."
Haha...Not quite "Driven Your Ford Lately" now is it...
Fly Fishing legend Bob Clouser tells these folks how to get er' done while casting his heavy flies.
The link to the full article is below...
Enjoy,
Duke
====================
Fly fishing guru Clouser shares tips with locals:
Thursday, March 16, 2006
By GEORGE THWAITES
Times-News
"ABINGDON - Pennsylvanian Bob Clouser isn't merely one of the most famous fly fishermen in America. His name has become part of the fly fishing lexicon during his own lifetime.
The chief reason is Clouser's Deep Minnow, which is arguably the best-known weighted streamer pattern in the world today. While several popular fly patterns bear his name, this one is certain to endure. If one fly fisherman asks another what he is using and is told, 'a Clouser,' that's usually enough said.
In fact, the Clouser Minnow has become such a fly fishing standard that Clouser's name has evolved into lower-case fly fishing jargon due to anglers' love-hate relationship with his fly.
'It got to where guys would make bad casts and they'd hit the rod tip and break it off. So they'd send it back to the factory and the factory guy would ask, "How did you break that?' And they'd say, "I hit it with a Clouser Minnow,'' said the 67-year-old Clouser, who was at the Virginia Creeper Fly Shop in Abingdon this past Saturday.
'It happened so often, they started calling it clousering your fly rod. They'd say, "No. We ain't replacing that. You clousered the rod.''
Clouser spent a couple of hours outside Abingdon's Virginia Creeper Fly Shop this past Saturday teaching area anglers how to avoid clousering their rod tips, themselves or innocent bystanders.
Even moderately proficient fly casters can find themselve struggling when they tie on a Clouser Minnow for the first time. Most fly anglers learn to cast flies that are virtually weightless. When they throw a heavy Clouser using the same strokes and rhythms they learned to cast Size 18 Blue Winged Olives, the result can be hazardous at worst and frustrating at best.
"Let's say we had 100 anglers here today. Usually about 90 will come to me for help about this. They realize that this is something different, and they're sure I wouldn't cast it like they do, or I sure wouldn't fish it," said Clouser, who also spent some quality time indoors at the shop giving fly tying demonstrations.
The casting techniques he taught Saturday were developed by the reknowned Lefty Kreh, Clouser's long-time fishing buddy and "probably the best fly fishing caster in the world." Kreh, who figured out how to throw heavy flies as one of saltwater fly fishing's major pioneers, passed these techniques on to Clouser years before his most famous fly was invented.
Clouser showed area anglers a modified side-cast that, among other things, keeps the caster's head and body out of harm's way. Essential to success is learning to throw a smooth, oval cast that keeps the fly in constant motion with no sudden stops that might generate shock and rebound. The zinging projectile riding the the fly line is tamed by follow-through."
posted by The "Duke" at 8:41 PM
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