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. SELLING POINTS: . Only book ever written by this guru of flytying . Massive worldwide publicity lined up in newsprint and magazines to mark the 40th anniversary of the Klinkhåmer Special in June 2024 . International tying demonstrations by Hans in 2024 . Elegant jacketed hardback with ribbon bookmark and over 675 colour images
Table of Contents:
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
