How to Tie Off a Gimp

The "Gimp" is a fly fishing "wet" fly used for panfish and trout. It was first tied by the founder of the Wapsi Fly Company, Lacy Gee. The Gimp is a fairly easy and straightforward fly to tie with just a few materials and a minimum of tools. You can vary the body of the Gimp to make it larger or smaller or have more hairs, which might entice that finicky trout or bluegill to bite. The gimp nymph fly gets its name from a special feather on a hen pheasant's neck called a "gimp" feather.

Things You'll Need

  • Fly tying vice
  • #10 hook
  • Lead wire
  • Black thread on a fly tying bobbin
  • Natural gray hen cape hackle feathers
  • Pheasant aftershaft gimp feathers
  • Fly tying cement
  • Gray wool yarn
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Instructions

    • 1

      Clamp the curved part of the hook in the vice with the shank horizontal and above the curve. Wrap three turns of lead wire around the shank. This is a wet fly and the lead wire will help the fly sink.

    • 2

      Hold the end of the black thread and use the bobbin to wrap the thread on the hook shank beginning just below the eye of the hook, working back towards the hook's curve. As you wrap, you should be enclosing the hook shank and the end of the thread you are holding with the wraps.Trim the thread end you are holding off close to the shank just before you reach the curve in the hook.

    • 3

      Clip off a small bundle of feather fibers from the hen cape hackle feather with the scissors and place them along the top edge of the hook shaft. Wrap the black thread around the fibers, working back towards the eye of the hook and stopping about the middle of the shank.

    • 4

      Clip the hackle fibers with the scissors so that their length from the point where they protrude from the thread to the end of the fibers is about as long as the hook. This is the tail of the fly and should extend about half the length of the hook past the bottom of the curved portion of the hook.

    • 5

      Lay one strand of gray yarn along the length of the body and wrap it with thread in open spirals from the hook eye back to the tail, then work forward again to the hook eye. Trim the end that protrudes near the eye, then wrap the body of the fly with the gray yarn working from the tail towards the eye. Make a slightly barrel shaped body that is thicker in the middle and thinner at each end. Wrap the end of the yarn near the eye with two turns of thread, trim off the end of the yarn and wrap it four more times with the thread.

    • 6

      Trim two aftershaft feathers so their length will reach from the top of the body -- the end near the eye -- to the middle of the tail. Place the feathers one on top of the other at the top of the body along the top edge of the fly. Wrap the tips of the feathers with black thread to hold them in place.

    • 7

      Hold a dun hackle feather and run it between your thumb and forefinger to "ruffle" the feather backwards. Wrap it around the body once or twice just above the gimp feathers to form a collar that fans out around the hook and fly body. Wrap the feather with the thread to hold it in place. Clip off the excess hackle with the scissors.

    • 8

      Make a moderate head with the black thread by wrapping it around the body just above the collar. Tie the black thread off, trim it close and coat the head with fly tying cement. Let the cement dry.