The Capt Phil Slinky Clouser Khaki is one of the most effective patterns I have developed for Fulling Mill Flies and had the opportunity to test while guiding and fishing with friends over the last few years.
It is a real magnet for sea bass, and I can attest to its effectiveness as it has caught several hundred sea bass of all sizes (and a few sea bream), particularly in sizes #06 and #02.
It is also a leading pattern for hunting tropical fish, as the Jack Crevalle and other snappers of Kéré in the Bijagos will attest (in sizes #02 and #2/0).
Available sizes: #06, #02 & 2/0
Instructions for use
This is an easy fly to cast with 7 to 8 weight rods and specialized sea bass intermediate lines, but also sinking lines.
Use primarily when sea bass and other predatory marine fish corner schools or shoals of forage fish at the surface on flat calm conditions and/or at the end of the day, in open water or in sheltered coves and beaches, or when predators encircle sand smelts (Atherina presbyter), smelts (Osmerus eperlanus) and other sand eels or other greenish-backed in the water column.
It also works very well with a floating line in shallow water between the rows of oyster beds and all areas of shallow calm water at the end of the outgoing tide and the very beginning of the incoming tide.
What makes it so attractive, beyond the jerky swimming of the clouser type rig, is the gradation of colors of the wing and its red eye.
To enhance its action, this fly has to be connected to the tippet with a loop type knot (Perfection Loop & Homer Rhode knots)
The smaller the model used, the longer and thinner the leader tippet should be (discretion when casting and elasticity when striking larger fish). Ideally a SW fluorocarbon tippet of Rio and SA types
• 6 to 10 lbs for size #06
• 10 to 16 lbs for size #02
• 16 lbs and over for size #2/0
The retrieve of the fly line must be done rod tip under water, by long pulls on the line more or less fast and jerky, so as to make the fly glide, then tumble.
The strike is generally straightforward and violent.
But it can be very subtle on larger, more educated fish.
Any loss of contact must be sanctioned by a strong strike by pulling on the line with the left hand (right hand for left-handers).
Very often, this surprising fly is frankly swallowed right after the first line strip after it enters the water.
Tied on a Tiemco 811 hook.
FMF Capt Phil Slinky Clouser Khaki #06 (Group 7)
Ref.: 712406
FMF Capt Phil Slinky Clouser Khaki #02 (Group 7)
Ref.: 712402
FMF Capt Phil Slinky Clouser Khaki #2/0 (Group 7)
Ref.: 712420
