This Fly Tying Tutorial is brought to you by Mossy’s Fly Shop. If you’re coming to fish somewhere in Alaska, chances are you’ll go through Anchorage. Take a little time to stop by Mossy’s Fly Shop, your new best fishing friend. This isn’t just a shop; it’s a fly-fishing clubhouse with top-tier gear, a massive selection of flies because Alaska fish have big appetites, and a staff that’s as passionate about helping beginners as they are about landing trophy fish. So come for the gear, stay for the camaraderie, and leave with a fish story (or at least a really good excuse for not catching one)—Mossy’s Fly Shop: where the coffee’s as hot as the fishing advice.
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Well, it’s Silver or Coho seaons here in Alaska and for us the Clouser Stinger is more than a fly—it’s a season-maker. According to Alaska West guides, anglers can hook a lot of silver salmon in a single day once things line up on the Kanektok River. August in Alaska means chromed-up silvers are flooding in, and the Clouser Stinger’s aggressive jigging action plus its beefed-up trailing hook make it a go-to for maximizing every swing and every grab. It’s built not just to draw strikes, but to convert those short bites into landed fish, solving one of the fundamental frustrations of coho season.
We always bulk up the boxes with this pattern right before silver salmon season. So if your goal is more hookups and fewer “almost” moments, dive into this step-by-step. There’s real value here for those chasing Alaska’s legendary late-summer bonanza.
While the Clouser is a simple pattern, it has a ton of variations you can play with. Changing colors is the most common thing tiers play with, but in this issue, we are going to tie it with a stinger. Because we like trout flies, we like stingers, when a fishing is chasing from behind, they will have less short strikes. If you want to tie a non-stinger version, everything will be the same on a standard hook.
Originator: Bob Clouser
Tied By: Brian Davenport, Mossy’s Fly Shop
Photos By: Mike Brown, Mossy’s Fly Shop
Ingredients:
- Hook Shank: Daiichi 2546 sz 2
- Thread: Veevus 140 Fl. Pink
- Dumbell Eyes: Red Painted Lead Eyes Medium
- Stinger Material: 30lb Fireline White
- Belly: Bucktail, White
- Flash: UV Pearl Krystal Flash
- Wing: Buck Tail, Fl. Cerise
- Stinger Hook: Aqua Flies Talon Sz 2
- UV Epoxy: Loon Thin
Step 1. First, cut the point of the hook off. Since you are going to cut the shank anyways, I like to get the sharp hook point out of the equation. Start your thread behind the hook eye and wrap it back to appx 2 hook eye widths back.
Step 2. Rotate the hook upside down and tie in your dumbbell eyes with figure 8 wraps. Wrap your thread back to where the bend starts.
Step 3. Tie in your stinger material, adjust the length you want and wrap forward to the back of the eyes, fold over and wrap back. Trim off excess and wrap thread back to the front of the hook.
Step 4. Cut appx ½ a pencil width of your belly bucktail. Square up your cut ends and tie in. Tie it back to the base of your eyes, then bring your thread under the eyes.
Step 5. Pulling the bucktail tight over the eyes, tie down to the shank behind the eyes. Now Palmering your thread with even spaces, run your thread to the back. Palmering the thread forward with even spaces (you should create and X pattern with your thread) back to the eyes. Again, bring your thread under the eyes to the front.
Step 6. Rotate the fly back over and tie in 4-6 strands of flash.
Step 7. Cut of clump of your top wing bucktail, appx ½ to ¾ of a pencil width, square up your cut ends. Tie in. Tie the bucktail in good to the front of the eyes. Build a nice head and whip finish. Using your thin epoxy, cover your thread, rotate back over and cover the bucktail over the eyes as well. Cure. Trim your flash to match the length of the bucktail. Cut of the rest of your hook shank and install your stinger hook.
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