Klinkhamer

Materials

• Hook: B100G Gold Kamazan or similar grub hook – size #10 to #16
• Thread: 8/0 black uni-thread or equivalent
• Tag: Glo brite #5
• Body: Black flexifloss
• Thorax: Peacock glister
• Post: Tiemco dry fly wing
• Parachute hackle: Badger cock feather

Tying Instructions:

1. Tie in the Tiemco dry fly wing to make a parachute post.
2. Tie in red Glo Brite down the shank of the hook and make a butt with two or three turns, then tie in back up the shank.
3. Tie in the black Flexifloss down the shank of the hook to the butt, then run the tying thread back up the hook and wind the Flexifloss, with touching turns, back up to where the thorax will end, and tie in.
4. Dub Glister to the tying thread and make the back of the thorax, behind the post, with a few turns.
5. Tie in the hackle so that it sits against the post and at the upper point where parachute turns will start.
6. Run the thread back up the the eye of the hook and dub in some glister to form the front part of the thorax.
7. Wind six turns of the hackle down the post and whip finish.
8. Snip off the hackle tip.

Fishing Notes:
The klinkhamer can be fished alone as a searching fly or when fish are rising. Because of its buoyancy the fly is excellent for fishing with a suspended nymph, New Zealand style.

Background Notes:
The Klinkhamer, originally named LT Caddis (light tan), now officially named Klinkhåmer Special, was devised by a Dutch angler Hans van Klinken, in the early 80’s to imitate an emerging caddis fly to catch grayling and trout which feed from them as they float in the surface film.
Klinkhamers are different from many other parachute dry flies in that the thorax of the fly is designed to hang down ‘through’ the surface of the water to imitate an emerging insect.
The abdomen serves as a trigger point which penetrates the surface film, which gets noticed by trout from great distances, even before any resulting surface footprint features.
In all variations of this fly, the abdomen of the fly float is underneath the surface of the water to attract the fish and improve hookups, while the parachute hackle and foam or wing is on or above the surface of the water for visibility and floatation.