Fishing the surf can be hard on flies, shredding the dressing from sharp fishy teeth and dulling hooks from dragging the sand. Building a robust, surf fly provides a thousand casts and dozens of fish to hand. I recently had the opportunity to take a fly-tying class from one of the bay area fly tying legends, Steve Adachi. He is the innovator of the Adachi Clouser and interesting variations of the same fly. The origin of the fly, Steve claims, is a culmination of original work by several historic striper fishermen and guides. Steve however, perfected the design and added his own flavored details and an additional robustness to the fly that withstands the rigors of time, tides, sand and almost everything lurking below the surface.
Steve ties his flies as he says, “tied to catch 100 fish”. He ties for some of the bay area premier striper guides, striper hunters, and fly shops up and down the California coastline. His clients demand the durability, Steve says. Although he ties different variations for himself and other users, all his flies have some commonality which has produced fabled success with both amateurs and professionals. Being an engineer, I know the devil is in the details and as Steve demonstrated in his ties, he annunciated the details for his long lasting and effective Adachi Clousers.
The key to building a robust fly as Steve demonstrates is in the layers of epoxy he applies during several steps within the tying process. Steve didn’t share the brand of the epoxy but did say the material he uses penetrates deep into the dressing and locks in the fibers and stabilizing the eyes. As I tied with Steve, it might be tempting to take shortcuts, use some UV or cyanoacrylate adhesive to bond the layers, but being patient is a virtue of fly fisher people and tyers who are unsettled with mediocrity.
The evening of tying ran long but the enthusiasm did not wane as I absorbed every fish story while the fly absorbs the thin adhesive. Tying a legendary fly with witness of a legendary tyer was a lifetime experience for me. I came away from the evening with a new appreciation and techniques to duplicate a fly I frequently use. I fish the Adachi Clouser in the Delta, San Luis, and along the Monterey and SF Bays, it works everywhere you find stripers or perch in the surf. It is a universal tie and with small tweaks can morph into almost any other baitfish found on the west coast.
The tie is demonstrated by Steve himself in the link below:
The details Steve shared with the tying group are important but are also easy to effectively replicate the with a rotary tool and a thin, slow drying epoxy. The epoxy I used to replace the process is manufactured by Flex Coat:
The material in the link is designed for coating lures and poppers. However, I called Flex Coat and they said their high build rod wrapping adhesive is the same as the lure coating. I opted to use the rod building epoxy. The adhesive is slow drying and provides a smooth luster to the fly.
Steve ties his flies with a heavy monofilament. The mono allows the colors and flash to radiate through the mono. The first adhesive is intended to bond the inner flash and the eyes. After tying the eyes and the flash onto the hook, a level amount of adhesive is applied to the body. You need to use a fly spinner to rotate the fly until the adhesive is dry to assure a level coating.
After the adhesive dries, the synthetic fiber is lashed onto the fly as descried in Steve’s instructional video, and additional adhesive is applied to the head and around the neck of the fly. I used a bodkin to apply the adhesive but any applicator can be used. The fly is returned to the spinner for the final cure.
I am not claiming to be an expert, but to the contrary, a layman who is continually learning and passing on techniques to other tyers. One note… given Steve’s high bar of catching 100 stripers on every fly, and considering my catch rate, my fly box is filled with two lifetimes of Steve’s flies.
If you don’t have the fly spinner or just don’t have the time for tying, you can purchase Steve’s hand tied flies at Lost Coast Outfitters for about 12 bucks which is a bargain considering the time it takes to tie and the material cost.
Posted on October 19th, 2025