Does anybody tie Klinkhammer's on normal dry fly hooks?

[vb1971 0]

Hi Everyone,

 

I usually tie Klnikhammers on grub style hooks and work well. I want to tie some 16s and 18s but don't have the right hooks and wont have time to get any before my trip this weekend to a little stream near home.

 

My question is whether it is worth tying Klinkhamers on typical dry fly hooks?

 

Look forward to your feedback

 

Regards

VB

[vicrider 0]

The standard hook defeats the whole idea behind the Klinkhammer. Lots of people use the Caddis and Grub hooks like you do and they can work but the whole idea of the Klinkhammer design is to have the parachute and wing floating on top of the water column and the rest of the hook hanging below the surface film as an emerging nymph. I would think if you were to take some light wire dry fly hooks and a needle nose pliers you should be able to put a slight bend behind the eye to tie your parachute and have rest of hook below the plane of the parachute. I recently tied a bunch of Fender Flies which use a deer hair parachute and I tied them on 18 Klinks and they really are more like a 14. Klink hooks are large. I have some in 20-24 but the wire is so fine and soft you bend them just trying to tie a fly, so when I want a Klink style that small I use a Caddis hook also.

[Crackaig 0]

I don't think you can. The question is how much you change a pattern before it is no longer the pattern? That would be too much in my book. Of course you can tie emergers with a parachute on any hook. I just don't think they should be called Klinkhamers.

 

What may be a solution is to try something very different. Not knowing what materials you have to hand this is open to using what you have.

 

If you tied a body and thorax on the shank, with the wing forward over the eye at 45 degrees. Then wound the hackle over the base of the wing like a parachute you could get a fair approximation of the profile. Deer hair would be good for the wing, so would CdC, or snowshoe hare. It will not be a Klinkhamer but would fish in a similar attitude.

 

This is the kind of thing. (With apologies for the quality, I'm a long way from home and my fly tying gear is packed for my flight home. I scrounged a hook and materials off a friend, and tied it in hand. My macro gear is also packed so the photo isn't as good as I can do.)

The wing is dyed pink CdC on this. I think it is as close as you will come on a straight shank hook.

Cheers,

C.

[flytire 0]

if tied on a straight hook wouldn't it just end up being called a "parachute"?

[FIN-ITE 34 0]

If you are careful, you can put a small bend with a pair of pliers in the hook shank to form that little flat for the wing tie-in point. I have done it without problem and no problems with hook failure landing 20" trout on size 16-18 std. dry fly hooks.

[wschmitt3 0]

I was thinking the same thing as flytire.

 

If it were me and I needed a fly to fit a certain need I would just find a different fly that works that I have the materials needed.

 

I had pretty good luck with a harrop's hair wing dun tied on a scud hook this summer. The copper wire on this pheasant tail version allows the body to ride under the surface very nicely.

 

 

[whatfly 0]

Just tie a Quigley Cripple or the like instead. Bending the hook strikes me as an incredibly bad idea, but YMMV.

[rockworm 0]

The originator of the Klinkhammer used a regular dry fly hook which he bent to suit his purposes. You can too! I know there was an article a few years back in one of the American magazines describing the process. Or you could just use a Klinkhammer hook as a model.

[vb1971 0]

Thanks Everyone,

As usual love the comments and suggestions. I will def try a few

 

Cheers from Australia

VB

[shoebop 0]

This falls under the heading of "...making a silk purse from a sows ear." You can substitute only so far before you are making something completely different as the above posters have said. You may have started out trying to tie one pattern only to substitute yourself into something completely different. I substitute things all the time. Just be careful how far you take it.

[Bruce Norikane 0]

Just tie a Quigley Cripple or the like instead. Bending the hook strikes me as an incredibly bad idea, but YMMV.

 

+1 for Quigley Cripple on a straight hook. You can vary the post/wing material and body to suit your needs.

 

 

... but, if you really want a Klinkhammer, you can carefully bend a fine wire dry fly hook. For larger flies, I use my vise jaws and fingers. For an 18, I'd use vise and smooth jawed, needle nose pliers.