 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.
Hans has written articles for many international magazines,
and gives many of his photos and tying articles to club
journals. He also worked for 15 years for the editorial
staff of the Dutch Fly fishing magazine and 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.
He also supports and sponsors wildlife and environmental
projects that are close to his heart and he is the chairman
of the Grayling Society Holland!
 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 Bondal series and the Culard
series. Less well known are his productive series of salmon
patterns, of which many are dries.
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