Klinkhamer Special

Klinkhamer Special, Tan

Show

Tying Instructions

1. Mash down the barb and place a Partridge 15BN or 15BNX hook in the vise. Start the thread behind the eye and wrap a thread foundation down the shank to the bend of the hook and back again.

2. Cut a piece of Poly Yarn and attach the yarn at the 3/4 position on the shank with some pinch wraps. Keep the material on the top of the shank. Trim the butt end of the yarn at an angle. This will give a tapered underbody upon secureing with thread wraps.

3. Wrap the thread around the yarn butt material, keeping the material on the top of the shank. Wrap to the bend of the hook and then back to the 3/4 position.

4. Wrapping back to the 3/4 position, you should see a nicely tapered underbody. Wrap a few turns of thread in front of the yarn to lift up the material. Then wrap around the base, anchoring some of the wraps with turns behind the wingpost to help keep the material upright.

5. Select a hackle that is somewhat oversized to the hook. The hackle should have stiff barbs. Remove the barbs from the base of the hackle . Orient the hackle so that the shiny side faces the wingpost and secure the hackle base to the wingpost with thread wraps going around the base and also anchoring the bare hackle quill to the shank just behind the eye. There should be a small portion of bare hackle quill above the wrapped base to ensure no trapped hackle fibers.

6. Wrap the thread back to the bend of the hook and apply a sparse amount of dubbing. The dubbing should barely cover the thread as to build a body that is not much thicker than the underbody itself. Hans prefers Fly Rite Poly dubbing, I’m using Kaufmann’s Grammarus Scud Blend which has some long unruly fibers. These can be trimmed when you’re done.

7. Finish the dubbing just behind the wingpost. You can also apply some dubbing around the wingpost base to build an underbody for the thorax.

8. Select 3 Peacock Herls and attach the herls by the tips to the shank just in front of the wingpost. Secure the herls with thread wraps a little behind the wingpost as that is where the throax will begin. Bring the thread back to just behind the eye.

9. Keeping the herls together, wrap a thorax behind and in front of the wingpost. It should be built large enough to be larger than the abdomen. Wrap with a taper to just behind the eye and tie-off.

10. Trim the herl butts off and secure the butts with thread wraps. Whip Finish and cut the thread.

11. Reposition the fly so that the wingpost is horizontal. Attach the spiderweb thread to the base of the wingpost with some wraps and trim off the tag.

12. Fasten the tip of the hackle to your hackle pliers and wrap the hackle from the top of the wingpost base downwards. This will keep the fibers from being pulled downwards. You want a heavy hackle so use 7-8 wraps for sizes 12-14 and 5 wraps for sizes 16-18. After getting the proper number of wraps, bring the hackle pliers to the left, pulling the hackle over the thorax, and secure the hackle tip with several more thread wraps. You can apply a whip finish at the base of the wingpost to secure these wraps.

9.Trim off the remaining hackle tip and remove any errant fibers that may be going downwards. Trim the wing so that it is at least as long as the hook shank.

Materials to Order Material, click the link
Hook	Daiichi 1160 #8-14
Thread	Uni-thread Tan 8/0
Body	Tan Superfine
Thorax	3 strands Peacock Herl
Tail	6-12 Med. Dun Spade Hackle Fibers
Wingpost	White Poly Yarn
Hackle	Medium Dun tied off with Spiderweb thread

Hans Van Klinkhamer

Klinkhamer Special

Dutch fly fisherman and fly tier, Hans Van Klinken, came up with this pattern in 1984 along the Glomma River in Norway. He noticed that most of the graylings were being caught with dry flies that were weighted to sink into the surface film. Upon examining one of the graylings, Hans also noted the abundance of large curved caddis larvae within the stomach contents. These observations led Hans to tie a caddis larvae pattern onto a scud hook and submerge the pattern into the surface film by using a parachute hackle and floatable wingpost.

Hans first Pattern

Hans called his pattern L.T. Caddis (L.T. for Light Tan) but later, friends started using the name Klinkhamer Special and the name stuck. It came to the attention of Sierra fly fishermen during the early 2000’s through a number of articles examining the pattern. Recently, the pattern has seen a resurgence in interest, since Partridge introduced their Klinkhamer hook and the hooks became locally available. The pattern is designed to be used as an emerger dry (if you have difficulty locating these hooks, try substituting a TMC 200R and put a 30 degree bend about 1/3 from the eye along the shank).

Although originally tied as an emerging caddis larvae, the pattern can also be adapted to many of our mayfly emergers as well. The Klinkhamer has a very visible wing post made of floatable yarn that allows the fly fisherman to see the fly easily. The hook design allows the pattern to lie deep within the surface film and is very stable due the heavy parachute hackle wound above the thorax.

Materials to use

Hans has had over 20 years to refine this pattern and has come up with the following points with regard to the materials one chooses to tie this fly.

• Hackle: Use a high-quality hackle with stiff fibers. Apply at least 5 wraps on sizes 16-18 and 8 wraps on sizes 10-14. The hackle can be oversized and kept horizontal to achieve good floatation.
• Wing: Use a floatable poly yarn for the wing post. It can be of any color you please, to sight the most easily. Hans prefers Niche Silicon Yarn for size 16 and smaller. The wing should be long, about the length of the hook shank.
• Abdomen: Hans prefers Extra Fine Poly Fly Rite Dubbing for sizes 14 or larger, and Wapsi Superfine for size 16 or smaller. The important thing is to apply the dubbing sparsely. You want a thin body.
• Thorax: The thorax should be much larger than the abdomen. Hans uses 3 strands of peacock hurl but also suggests Peacock-colored dubbing as a substitute.
• Hook: Originally the pattern was tied on a Partridge Yorkshire Caddis hook. Partridge designed a better hook style from Hans input, the 15BN and 15BNX. These hooks give the proper wide gape and have a straight eye that allows the hook to hang vertically in the water column.

Alternative Technique

Hans also came up with an easier technique to tie the parachute hackle using Spiderweb thread. The tie off is around the wing post at the base where it is protected by the wing material from getting ripped open by the trout’s teeth. This is a marked improvement from typically tying the hackle off just behind the eye.

PMD Klinkhamer

Hook	Daiichi 1160 #8-14
Thread	Uni-thread Pale Yellow 8/0
Body	PMD Superfine Dubbing
Thorax	3 strands Peacock Herl
Wingpost	White Poly Yarn
Hackle	Ginger Hackletied off with Spiderweb thread

BWO Klinkhamer

Hook	Daiichi 1160 #8-14
Thread	Uni Thread 8/0 Gray
Body	Light Cahill Dyed Quill
Thorax	3 strands Peacock Herl
Wingpost	White Poly Yarn
Hackle	Medium Dun Hackletied off with Spiderweb thread