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Hans van Klinken biography |
Hans van Klinken was born in 1956. He started fly fishing at the age of
15 in Norway. He fell in love with the beauty of the Northern Regions
almost immediately, and traveled to Scandinavia to spend his summer
holidays until the late nineties. It was in the large variety of the
river systems and lakes of Scandinavia that he honed his fly fishing
skills. Hans began fly-tying in 1976. By the early eighties, he was
creating his own designs, mostly parachutes. This preference eventually
led to several unusual patterns and tying techniques. It would be
another four years before he fully recognized the value of other flies,
like nymphs, streamers and emergers. Unlike most European fly-fishers,
Hans' first salmon and sea trout were caught on dry flies. Because not
many people believed his stories about catching salmon and sea-trout
with a dry fly, he was forced to go his own particular way.
After nearly ten years of intensive fly fishing in Scandinavia, Hans
began traveling to other European countries such as Ireland, the UK,
Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Austria and Switzerland. The
success of the large patterns which he had developed for Scandinavian
fishing was immediate. In 1981, his job took him to the north of
Germany. Now even closer to Scandinavia, more time on the water was
possible, and fly-fishing became an obsession. At this time, he also
became involved in writing about flies and his travels.
Hans is also well know for providing an excellent guiding experience,
mainly with clients in Scandinavia. For the last 10 years he has
traveled to Canada to test his patterns on Canadian Atlantic salmon,
Pacific salmon, steelhead, lake trout, shad, Inconnu, whitefish, pike,
grayling and small mouth bass.Hans' favorite patterns are parachutes,
emergers and realistic nymphs. He enjoys sharing his knowledge about
fly-fishing and fly-tying, and is particularly skilled in the taking of
Atlantic salmon and grayling on dry flies. Although having dabbled in
the classic salmon fly world, by 1990 he was concentrating on workshops
for river fishing, and tying classes for realistic and effective fishing
patterns. Since 1986, Hans has participated at many fly tying shows, and
has presented several lectures, classes and workshops in the U. K.,
Holland, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Italy,
Russia, Canada, Asia and the U.S.A.
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Hans
fishing for pike in Northern Canada |
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Hans has written articles for many international
magazines, and gives many of his photos and tying articles to club
journals. He also contributes to books written by his friends, such as:
"The World's Best Trout Flies" by John Roberts, "Fly Tyers Masterclass"
by Oliver Edwards, "The Complete Book of the Grayling" by Ron Broughton,
"The Complete Book Of Fly Fishing" by Malcolm Greenhalgh, "Modern
Atlantic Salmon Flies" by Paul Marriner, the books of Mogens Espersen,
"Tying flies with CDC The Fisherman's Miracle Feather" by Leon Links and
several more.
Today Hans writes his own columns in magazines in Europe and Canada, and
produces wonderful non-commercial photo cd's that are simply awesome to
look at.
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Hans' most favorite patterns |
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He also supports and sponsors wildlife and
environmental projects that are close to his heart.
Hans van Klinken's best-known patterns are the large L.T series,
developed in Norway in the early eighties, the Klinkhamer Special, his
Leadheaded grayling bugs, the Caseless Caddis series, the Remerger
series, his Flymph series, the Para-poly sedges, the Baetis nymph and
dun, the Once and Away series, the Ugly Bugs, the Bonal series and the
Culard series. Less well known are his productive series of salmon
patterns, of which many are dries.
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