Need felp fast with big Clousers

[GScott]

Need help ASAP. 8/0 Clousers?
Hey Guys,
I'm heading South to fish big Stripers with Capt Kyle in a week.
I firmly believe I can catch any thing in the Bay (probably offshore too) with Clousers but Capt just informed me I'll need 7/0 and / or 8/0 hook gaps on my flies. I don't tie and I've never even seen a retailer that sells them that large.
I'm in Southern Maryland and leave next Friday.
Anyone know where I can purchase a dozen?
Anyone local willing to tie up a dozen in Chart / White for me in a hurry (for a reasonable fee)?

GScott

[golfinjoe24]

You have an email adress? Pmail isnt working for me and I think I might have found some.
shoot me an email if you want

golfinjoe24@gmail.com

[Shortylong01]

GScott: Match the hooks to the fly not to the fish. Several years ago I was fishing with Chris Newsome at CBBT. Chris put us on swirling fish who were chowing down on very small bait. We caught 35 to 40 inch fish for an entire tide on flies tied on #1 hooks and threw them on an eight weight. We missed very few hookups to small hooks. Good Luck on gettin the bigguns down there.

[Chris Newsome]

I haven't fished the CBBT in 2010 due to the brutal cold. Water temps have dropped to the point that there might not be any stripers biting within 30 miles of the CBBT until the water warms back up a tad. Usually the first fish to bite again are the schoolies and they'll be in tight schools hugging the bottom... hard fly rod targets. With continued warming, they become more active and chase bait in the upper water column. Generally, the big bait migrates offshore in the cold temps so the primary bait left are micro bay anchovies. Sometimes there are huge black clouds of millions of these 1" baits. The small baits haven't been real thick this season which may be one reason for the lack of bird activity around the CBBT this year. I don't really see the need for such large hooks for most situations thaty you'll run across. We've caught stripers to 50# on 4/0 hooks and there's no reason why you couldn't catch them that big on even small hooks. The biggest problem you'll find with a large 8/0 is that a clouser style fly will not want to ride hook up due to the heavy hook. You can use a large jig hook or worm hook to get the fly to ride hook up, but most likely you won't need such a huge fly or hook

http://www.bayflyfishing.com/anchovie-1-24-07.jpg.

[GScott]

Thank you all for your help.
I picked up some larger (4/0?) Clousers at Tochterman's in Baltimore and, based on my own experiences, I have all the confidence I need in them.
Now if the fish will only show around the pilings or on top that would be great.
Anything any of you can do to arrange that? A little help with the water temps?

Thanks Guys.

[Capt. Ahab]

http://155.206.18.162/SST/?Layers=DailyColors&ViewRegion=Quick+View&PREVIOUS_MODE=0&minx=-77.296720&miny=35.910682&maxx=-74.478250&maxy=40.076628&imagewidth=251&imageheight=371&CMD=ZOOM_IN&INPUT_TYPE=auto_rect&INPUT_COORD=107,246;107,246&KEYMAPXSIZE=

good luck down there, and I agree with what has been said about fly size. I have seen fish refuse large bunker flies and only take small bay anchovy patterns.

[HenryL]

Hello!
Saltwater fishing is just like trout fishing- you need to "match the hatch". As is shown in Chris Newsome's photo (Hey Chris! How ya doin'?), big stripers don't necessarily have to eat big baits all the time.
If, however, you do find that what they're eating IS big, the best way to do replicate them is by using longer and/or larger materials, in order that you can still cast the fly, and it also has the same characteristics of a proper Clouser. You may also consider tying Lefty's Deceivers and Half&Halfs- they can be tied in this same manner with usually rewarding results.
Since we're now about to get another 10-20" of snow {:LKESOJ":EJO{WEIUTLDEGM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (that's cursing, by the way!), now's the time to get to the bench, and get as creative as you can. God knows you'll have plenty of time over the next week or so!

Henry