The Klink (book)

The Klinkhåmer Special is probably the most popular fishing fly in the world today. It floats on the end of fly lines on salmon, trout or grayling rivers, from Britain to USA, and Scandinavia to Mongolia. This year marks the fly's 40th anniversary and to celebrate the occasion, its creator Hans van Klinken has at last written his long-awaited first book.





Flyfishers for salmon, trout, grayling and coarse species will for the first time learn from Hans himself the secrets behind his miracle Klinkhåmer Special which has caught its fans hundreds and hundreds of fish: the thinking behind the design, the testing, the variations, the reasons for its remarkable success.





Full instructions for tying Hans' most important flies are included in his engaging and revealing account of his life in flytying and fishing.



Foreword John Roberts 10

Introduction Hans van Klinken 12

Chapter 1    Dutch Panama: The forgotten fly 17

Start of flytying 21

Scandinavian influence 24

Dutch Panama (version 1) 26

Dutch Panama (version 2) 30

Chapter 2     Rackelhanen 35

Rackelhanen background 38

Rackelhanen fishing techniques 39

Tying the Rackelhanen 44

Chapter 3     The Way with a Parachute 51

My first parachute flies 57

A little history of parachute flies 59

The real power of the parachute fly 73

Trends that have evolved in the last few decades 75

Chapter 4     Scandinavian Parachute Flies 89

Tying a parachute on a Swedish dry fly hook 90

Tomas Olsson 96

Tying a classic Tomas Olsson emerger using his original drawings 99

Hare's Ear Parachute Emerger 99

How to burn a synthetic wing using the famous Olsson technique 100

Chapter 5     Universal Baetis 105

Lessons learned through addiction 106

The rise of the Universal Baetis 108

Tying our Universal Baetis (as we designed it in Denmark) 114

Chapter 6     Klinkhåmer Special: Forty years of dry fly success 119

Setting the record straight 119

Sharing the credit 120

Naming of the Klinkhåmer Special 123

Real thoughts behind the Klinkhåmer Special 123

The original materials 127

The truth about hooks 146

Tying the original Klinkhåmer Special 158

Klinkhåmer version 2.0 164

Tying the Klinkhåmer Special version 2.0 165

Repairing damaged Parachute Flies 172

Making Klinkhåmers with extra slim bodies 174

What does the Klinkhåmer imitate? 176

Fishing the Klinkhåmer Special 177

My leaders and tippets are different from most systems 179

Klinkhåmer catches so far 180

Chapter 7     Para Poly Sedge 183

New Sedge pattern 183

How to fish the PPS 185

Tying the PPS 186

Chapter 8     Culard and Once and Away 191

My way with CDC 191

Floatability 192

Mobility 193

CDC against all the rules 195

Tying the Culard 196

The rise of the Once and Away 200

Tying the Once and Away 204

Chapter 9     The Power of Ants 209

Investigations and observations 210

Shape or silhouette 213

Floating ants 217

Tying the one minute Parachute Ant (no 1) 220

Tying the Parachute Ant (no 2, river version) 224

Adding an extra sight indicator 226

The Ugly Bug – my version of the Chernobyl Ant 228

Tying the Ugly Bug (the best of the best) 229

Chapter 10     Green Glomma Duns 235

My 'Shining River' (The Glomma River) 242

Entomology (keep it simple) 245

New way of thinking 252

Forking the tails 257

Tying the Green Glomma Dun 260

Chapter 11     Nalle Puh 267

The national fishing fly of Finland 272

The Nalle Puh and some crucial background information 283

The natural insects described by Aki Rinne 284

The final Nalle Puh 287

My first Nalle Puhs 289

Tying the original Nalle Puh 305

Dark Puh (original version by Simo) 308

CDC Puh (original version by Juha Pusa) 308

Honey Puh (original version by Simo) 308

Snösko (Snowshoe) Puh (originator: Juha Pusa) 308

My own classic version of the Nalle Puh, Honey Puh and Dark Puh 309

Tying my version of the Nalle Puh with synthetic wings 310

Chapter 12     Perfect Poly Bugs for Atlantic Salmon 315

My way with Atlantic salmon 318

Rising fish 328

Tying my first dry flies for Atlantic salmon 332

Deer hair versus poly yarn 337

More time spent to perfect my Poly Bug 338

A few important notes about the materials in the dressing 344

Tying the Green Poly Bug 346

A few last words 352