Bondal Black   Tony’s First Choice  Clearwater Special

By Hans van Llinken

  The dressings

  Hairwings are an easy tie, but I insist on some differences. First, the hook must be down eyed. I firmly recommended the CS42 from Partridge. I believe that a down-eye hook with a turle knot produces a more natural drift during fishing and a superior-hooking angle.

  The greatest difference with my new generation of hairwings has to do with the beard (or throat) of the fly. I use dyed rabbit fur exclusively for all the beards on my Bondals and Pulsars now. I prefer to use the soft and long hairs of a zonkerstrip - and use a considerable bunch of it at that with very long fibres, sometimes even almost reaching the hook point. The fly has an unbelievable action with such a long beard and definitely has a superior attraction for fish.

  Although traditional jungle cock eyes sometimes can be deadly, I removed them from all my flies. I find them too shiny, especially in clear water, and find no evidence that they do any good whatsoever. In order to give my flies a personal touch, I add fibres of mallard or teal as a sheath over the wing. Here are three very effective patterns from this new series of hairwings:

Tying technique

Step 1: Put on tying thread and tie in a piece of round silver tinsel.
Step 2: Wind a nice tag and tie in the tail and the fluorescent wool.
Step 3: Make a nice long butt. Using up to seven turns is no problem. Tie in the silver wire for the rib and 3-4 peacock herls.
Step 4: Make the body from peacock and secure with the ribbing. Tie in a long bunch of soft rabbit fur. The traditional way to make the wing is to build it up. The squirrel tail fibres are added first, then the fitch tail and finally the mallard fibres over all. Secure well and tie off.

All text by Hans van Klinken

Flies photographed by Jurgen Oeder

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