Klinkhammer

When rainbow trout are rising but refuse your dry fly they are often not taking fully emerged insects on top of the surface, but hatching insects stuck in the surface film. Then Klinkhammer is the fly to switch to. Its clever construction means the body hangs down through the surface while wing and hackle keep it floating, exactly the silhouette a hatching insect has.

The emerger that fools fussy fish

An emerger imitates the insect at its most exposed moment, mid-hatch when it is breaking through the surface film and can neither fly nor swim away. For the fish it is an easy target, and they eat readily then. Klinkhammer captures that stage perfectly: the curved hook and the hanging body sit under the surface, while the light wing and parachute hackle keep the fly up and visible. The result is a fly that looks as if it is on its way up through the surface.

Size and visibility

Size 12 to 16 covers most hatches in put and take. Match the size to the insects you see, and go smaller if the fish are cautious. The light wing (often a white or pale post) is not only for the fish but also helps you see the fly on the water, which matters because the takes are often discreet. If you see the fly disappear in a small ring you make a soft strike.

How you fish it

Presentation is everything. Lay the fly softly above the fish and let it drift completely free, without the line dragging it. A natural, dead drift is decisive, because an emerger barely moves under its own power. Treat the wing and hackle with floatant but leave the body untreated, so it hangs right in the surface film. Fish it where you see rises, preferably in quiet water and in the evening when the hatches are densest.

When you choose Klinkhammer

Bring out Klinkhammer when the fish are rising but snub an ordinary dry fly such as Adams — that is often a sign they are taking in the surface film. The basics of surface fishing and drift we cover under dry-fly fishing, and more patterns to switch between are in flies for rainbow trout.