Words by Henrik Larsson
Images by Alvaro G Santillan
One of the new flies in the Guideline line-up is a Klinkhamer with a tippet-ring mounted in the back of the body, just at the hook bend. This makes it very easy to tie in a piece of tippet with another fly trailing behind, and the main fly then also act as an indicator. We therefor call the fly… tadaaaaaa …. Indi Klink. In this video and blog post Henrik Larsson from our Guideline HQ explains how he build a stillwater rig with an Indi Klink and two buzzers.
AUTUMN
Autumn in the small forest lakes around Gothenburg is a beautiful time of the year. The trees turn yellow, water temperature fall and the fish gets active. On those windless days with mild air temps there can be some really nice midge hatches, and also wasps and other terrestrials can be found on the surface. With no ripples on the surface the fishing can get a bit tricky, so you need to fish small flies on thin tippet to entice those cruising rainbow trout with half of their backs out of the water.
INDIKLINK & BUZZER RIG
One of my favorite rigs for this fishing is a rig with three flies. You may say that it is kind of cheating to use more than one fly, but with plenty of real midges hatching you sometimes need those odds on your side. In short the rig consists of an IndiKlink in the middle and a buzzer in front and another buzzer trailing behind. The Indi Klink is available in some different versions, both as a classic Klinkhamer but also as a caddis model.
As the midges hatch all over the lake and also out in the open water I really like to fish from a Drifter float tube. This gives me the ability to target fish in different places of the lake, and the the float tube does not seem to scare them off very easy, despite the calm conditions. The rod of choice is the excellent LPX Tactical 9´9″ #4. The rod is light, responsive and I can use light tippet without risk. The extra length is also perfect when you sit in a Drifter and get some extra height of you line in the air.
TAPERED LEADER
From the fly line I use a PowerStrike 9´ 2X tapered nylon leader with a tippet-ring attached to the front/thin end. I do not like to use a tapered fluorocarbon leader in this case. It has a higher density than nylon and therefor sinks pretty fast, and will soon pull down the floating fly.
TIPPET
Here I prefer to use our EGOR fluorocarbon tippet material in 4X or 5X. As the material sinks it will not disturb the flat surface, and as it is so thin it will not affect the flotation of the main fly in a negative way. The total length of the tippet from the tapered leader to the main IndiKlink is about 1,5 meters.
THE RIGGING
You start by pulling off about 1,5 meter of EGOR tippet and attach one end to the leader/tippet-ring. Then you cut another 15 cm of tippet and tie it as a dropper some 50-70 cm up from the end. To the dropper line you attach a buzzer in a color that fits the water you are fishing. Now you take the IndiKlink and tie it to the end of the tippet, and you use the normal hook-eye in the front of the fly. Finally you cut another 50 cm of EGOR tippet and tie one end to the tail-ring of the IndiKlink, and another buzzer at the other end. Now you end up with a buzzer, 50 cm of tippet, an IndiKlink, another 50 cm of tippet and another buzzer as the point fly.
HOW TO FISH
Fishing for cruising midge eaters in still water is slow and careful game where you need some patience and cool nerves. With flat water and shy fish near the surface it is very easy to spook the fish if you put the line and flies to close to the rising fish. If you study them carefully you often see that they have a pattern, or a route they follow over and over again. It can be along structure or weed, but it can also be out on the open water far from the bank. So better is to plan ahead and put your rig well in advance in the area/route you have seen fish, and just keep the line tight and wait. If you see fish approaching your flies you can give them a small pull or a slow twist retrieve to give it some life. Some days it can also be very effective to give the line a longer pull to let the IndiKlink have some skating motion on the surface. As the name indicates the Klinkhamer is your visual support when a fish takes some of your buzzers. It it starts to act strange and move in any direction, strike immediately as a fish has taken any of the other flies.
ABOUT THE INDI KLINK
Here you have a Klinkhammer ready for easy use as an indicator fly, when you want to fish with a nymph as a dropper! The fly is tied on a Fasna F120 Klinhammer barbless hook with our 2.0 mm tippet ring tied at the end, so you can easily attach your nymph with a piece of tippet material. Lubricate the fly with plenty of gel impregnation and be ready. When the fish catches the nymph that hangs underneath, you must be lightning quick! Do not be surprised if it takes this fly instead, as it is a well-known fish catcher.
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