This is the Culard, another successful pattern from Hans van Klinken. It has been a hugely successful pattern for me, much more than the Klinkhammer Special and the Once and Away. I believe Hans designed the fly for fishing low water conditions on a river, and at that it certainly excels. It has also been a hugely successful stillwater fly for me, rarely letting me down. I normally fish it dry, but, in articles I’ve read it appears Hans also liked to fish it “damp”
He also ties a soft hackle version, though I have yet to try one. The soft hackle version is exactly the same apart from the hackle, which is Starling.
I first saw this pattern in the FDG magazine several years ago, in it Hans uses the dark feather fibres from a Peacock wing for the Herl body. I don’t have any, but from its success for me I would say it’s safe to assume you can use any dark Herl for the body.
In the FDG magazine the pattern states 3-4 CDC feathers for the wings and two turns of hackle. As the fly was designed for low water conditions this is how I tie the fly. However, in Tying CDC flys by Leon Links the pattern is given as four CDC feathers for the wing and four turns of hackle. I do not know if this is how Hans now ties the fly or if it is the author of the books preference. You may tie as is your preference.




HOOK - TMC103BL #17
THREAD – Black 10/0 Gudebrod
RIB – Yellow Peasalls Silk (or fine Gold wire)
BODY – Black Herl
WING – 3 CDC Feathers (cut)
HACKLE – 2 Turns Dark Blue Dun

STEP 1
Mount the hook, attach the thread and wrap towards the bend of the hook. Catch the rib in as you go.





Followed by the Herl for the body. Taking the thread back up to the shoulder of the fly. If you prefer, you can varnish the thread wraps prior to wrapping the body.




STEP 2
Twist the herls into a rope and wind over the varnished thread to form the body.




Followed by the rib. I like to counter wrap the rib on Herl bodies flys such as this one.




STEP 3
Mount three CDC feathers on top for the wing. You can roughly align them if you wish, but since you will be cutting the wing to length it is not critical.




Trim the waste.




Then cut the wings to length. Hans states the wing should be cut exactly halfway along the body. I prefer slightly longer for purely aesthetic reasons, about two thirds at most.




STEP 4
Mount the hackle.




STEP 5
Make two turns of hackle, tie off and form a neat head. Then whipfinish and varnish for the completed fly.

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ukflydressing A UK based fly tying site packed full of flyting tips and photographic step by steps. Now with added fly fishing section.

it has the 'look' alright. familiar with klink and once and away but never seen this one.

i have to say his idea of cutting the cdc is very smart. definitely aids floatability and longevity.

ps what colour is dark dun ?

The "edit" button is handy. Should have said Dark Blue Dun.

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ukflydressing A UK based fly tying site packed full of flyting tips and photographic step by steps. Now with added fly fishing section.

Scotfly



As ever with tying flies, I dont have the right hackle!

So far I have accumulated Capes or bits of Capes in Black, Grizzle, White, Olive Grizzle and Silver badger .

Do you know if any of these would suffice / have you tried anything else

I'm thinking a turn of Grizzle mite be nice ?

Finally, what does TMC103BL #17 equate to ?

Cheers Scotfly

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Irish by birth, Munster by the grace of God.

Spider, black would be fine and I don't see any reason not to try the others as well. Don't forget you have every colour you need with the white cape. Oh, and a few permanent marker pens

TMC = Tiemco
103BL = model number
17 = size

If you don't have this hook you can still tie it on a suitable light wire hook.. TMC 100 OR 101, Kamasan B170 etc.

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ukflydressing A UK based fly tying site packed full of flyting tips and photographic step by steps. Now with added fly fishing section.

Spider,

I have some TMC 103's in size 17 - it's just about the same as a Partridge SLD (or the SUD's that you use) in size 16.

Kind regards

Phil.
www.spidersplus.co.uk

Cheers Phil


I kind of guessed as much. The hook looks just right.

Tied 2 last night and made a dogs **** out of them.....the CDC came away too easily - I think it was due to the Roman Moser thread I used.

Will try again tonite .......probably with the Starling hackle - I like the idea of damp flies and CDC makes a lot of sense in this way....

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Irish by birth, Munster by the grace of God.

Spider,

Don't waste an expensive thread like Roman Moser powersilk on a pattern like this - save it for patterns that require such a thread.

Any 8/0 or 10/0 thread that is NOT GSP will work for you - power silk is too slippery - UTC or UNI is much better for giving you the grip you need - plus practice your thread control - tie in the CDC with a few soft wraps, then tighten down and check the the CDC will not move BEFORE moving on to the next stage.

Kind regards

Phil.
www.spidersplus.co.uk

Will do Phil


Moser like other gsp threads cuts so easily! I think it was severing the cdc....I have black UTC anyway which I think is a better all round thread so will try that ............cheers

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Irish by birth, Munster by the grace of God.