Bob Clouser: A Man and His River

Intro | Gear | Food | Tactics | Catfish | Clouser

Bob Clouser, known by some as the "the Commodore of the Susquehanna," has worked hard with local anglers to create a quality fishing experience on the Susquehanna River.

Awards and plaques unpretentiously displayed in Bob Clouser's workroom attest to the appreciation anglers and organizations have for him. Clouser's efforts to preserve the Susquehanna smallmouth fishery are unending. The Federation of Fly Fishers honored him with its 1991 Warm Waters Achievement Award and its 1992 James Henshall Award for promoting smallmouth angling and protecting the Susquehanna. The Pennsylvania Council of Trout Unlimited and several local chapters likewise have recognized Clouser's efforts, and he continues to negotiate with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission for improved smallmouth regulations.

Clouser has lived in the same house for 50 years, only a block from the house where he was born in Middletown, on the banks of "his river." In 1982, two years after Bob and his wife, Joan, started a part-time fly-tackle business, when the firm which employed him as a meat cutter closed, Clouser went into the fly-fishing business full-time. Later he started a guiding business. Today, with the support and help of Joan and his son, Bob, Jr., a great guide in his own right, Clouser enjoys an incredible reputation throughout Pennsylvania and the neighboring states. His guiding schedule is normally filled a year in advance.

A humble man, Clouser credits Lefty Kreh for helping him get started with suggestions and guidance. And he still exhibits the enthusiasm of a five-year-old kid each time he catches a fish. The image of his giddy cackle and ear-to-ear grin as he gently slips each bass back to the water etches a mental cameo no one who has fished with him can ever forget.

Clouser's innovative fly designs have given him recognition far beyond his home waters. His creations, generally simple in concept, were developed from long experience on the river, trial and error, knowledge of fish habits and foods, and the knowledge of the water itself.

The Clouser Deep Minnow is one of the most versatile fly patterns ever created.

The Clouser Deep Minnow, adapted now to many variations, has been lauded around the globe as the universal underwater fly by Lefty Kreh, Flip Pallot, and other renowned fishermen. The other flies in Clouser's smallmouth flybox, like the Crayfish, Swimming Nymph, and Floating Minnow, fill all the needs of a smallmouth bass angler. The angling world has two treasures in the Susquehanna River: the fabulous smallmouth fishery and the man who has worked so long for its preservation and enhancement.