The Bend Back Clouser Minnow

mmgsozarks
Dec 29, 2025
5 min read

By Michael Collins Dec 16, 2025

Fast to tie, Weedless, & Scary Effective!

Bob Clouser’s Creation.

The Clouser Minnow was designed in the late 80’s by Bob Clouser. Bucktail, flash, thread, lead eyes, and a hook are all it takes. His design was simple to replicate and has been improved upon/redesigned by 1000’s of tiers over the years. For me, it’s a staple guide fly that stays in my box all year long. Our Missouri Ozarks Smallmouth Bass dig Clouser's of almost every make and model.

It may not come as a surprise but being a guide, I go through a lot of flies. There are the clients that donate plenty to the trees and rocks, and then there’s me. I get quite bold with my cast placement and often get hung up. The argument is that you must put the fly where the fish are, but how are you going to catch any fish if you’re hung up on something? I needed a solution to my fly loss problem.

The Bend Back Clouser is nothing new. I’m sure it’s been around for almost as long as the original Clouser. But why is it so much better? First of all, it’s not tied like an original Clouser. There’s no material on the bottom side of the hook. Everything is tied on top. Doing this creates a veil of bucktail that protects the hook point from snagging things. Time and time again, I watch the bucktail deflect as I drag this fly across tree trunks and boulders. I’ve also tested this in thinner cover like treetops and willow weed. While it will occasionally catch, most of the time the Bend back Clouser will glide right through.

Throw in a Bob Clouser quote from the book.

How to fish the fly

Fishing the BC really isn’t any different than how I would fish an original Clouser of the same size. For a size 1 or 2 streamer hook with 5.0-5.5mm Brass eyes, I'll run a 6wt with a Rio Predator Floating Line. The line carries flies like this with ease, and the 6wt is the perfect sized stick for the job. If I need to get down faster, I'll typically switch to a 3 IPS (Inch Per Second) sink rate Rio Predator line.

Aside from setup, I fish these like any other Clouser. Jig it, swim it, burn it in. It all works the same.

My client Mike with a nice one, fooled by the Bend Back Clouser.

Tying the Fly

The fly isn’t too hard of a tie. I believe that most folks have a hard time with the portion control, rather than the actual construction of the fly. Just like Bob C’s original pattern, the trick to this fly is “less is more”. If you go too heavy on bucktail on any of these steps, you probably won’t ruin the fly, but it will not swim as nicely and you may affect your hookup ratio, even if just slightly.

Hook: I’ve tried out several brands. So far, I like the Ahrex SA250 Bend back, as well as their GB378 model. It’s slightly longer and gives the tier the ability to add rattles & experiment further. The Mustad C84BAP (which I am using in this tutorial) is also a solid choice. It’s a shrimp hook, but I really love the bend angle on them. You can also bend out your own hooks.

Thread: .6000” monofilament or GSP 100 works great. I tie on my eyes with mono in bulk. When I go back through and tie the flies, I will go to GSP since there isn’t a lot of hook space to work with.

Eyes: I use 5.0mm Brass Eyes from Wholesale Fly Co. It’s hard to beat the price, and I like brass over lead for durability reasons.

Flash: Hedron Polar Flash in UV Pearl is what I use for this color scheme, but any flash you like will do.

Bucktail: I like bucktail that’s straight with a little bit of wave. The fibers in the middle of the tail that are somewhat hollow are more desirable. Anything too hollow or dense will not work. Check out The Fly Hair Co for their selection on bucktail. Their quality is amazing, and they have some hard-to-find colors!

Starting off…

Place your hook in the vise as shown and start your thread behind the eye. I'm tying on a Renzetti Traveler, my current favorite of vises.

Tie in the eyes and make sure that they sit below the shank of the hook. At this point, I glue everything in. I like to coat the eye wraps in Zap a Gap. I will give this time to dry. In situations where I’m tying a bunch, I will repeat this step and go back for the material tying portion later.

Using your GSP 100, start your thread in front of the eyes. I add my first pinch of bucktail right away. This will be the shortest stack and will go slightly past the bend in the hook. Think of this as the support for the rest of the materials. It will keep things propped up and above the hook point. A trick to keeping it propped up a little is to pull down hard with your thread as you tie in. Doing this will fray your fibers up.

Add in your polar flash. I use 4-5 strands, doubled over. Taper it into the rest of the fly at various lengths. Sometimes I will add the flash after the first stack of bucktail, as seen in the pictures. I don’t think it matters much, but usually I do this after the second stack.

Your next tie in is more of the white bucktail. This needs to be the biggest & thickest bunch. I use maybe ⅓ of a pencil, but remember, less is more. The tips of this bunch should go well past the tips of the first tie in. This is the part of the fly that gives it the swimming action.

The final tie in will be gray bucktail. This will be a sparse bunch, and the tips should be longer than your first tie in, but not as long as your second. Right in the middle is perfect. Use your thumb to move the fibers around before tightening down with your thread. You want an even distribution of material over the top for each of these tie ins.

Cover up all of the rough tie in spots with thread and whip finish. Instead of whip finishing, I will throw in a few half hitches. This is personal preference.

Cover all of your thread wraps with Sally Hanson’s Hard as nails. The fly is finished. If you wanted, you could spice this fly up a little. If I tie a fancy Bend back Clouser, I’ll add red tinsel down into the bend of the hook, as well as peacock herl over the top after the gray bucktail.

Here’s a video of the tying process.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDxViM7FWpE

There isn’t much more I can say about the Bend Back Clouser. Its effectiveness speaks for itself, and its weedless nature will have you casting into cover with confidence.

I hope you try this fly out and have some success with it. If you do, send me pictures and I might feature you on my website/social media!

Thank you for reading! If you’re interested in booking a fishing trip here in the Missouri Ozarks, get ahold of me! I’m now booking Trout, Smallmouth, and Grass Carp trips for 2026.

Current Locations:

Gasconade River (Dixon, Missouri)

Meramec River (Steelville)

Niangua River (Lebanon)

Maries River (Freeburg)

Creek X (Nice Try)

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