The IJssel nymph

Note: IJssel nymph chenille is a fluo orange or yellow chenille that incorporates tinsel. This may be hard to obtain. You can replace it with ordinary fluo micro chenille and add the tinsel as a rib later.

Mount the tyingthread at about third of the hook shank behind the hook eye. This is known as the shoulder of the fly. If you imagine a fly as having a head, a thorax and a body, just like an insect, this is the location where head turns into thorax.
Wrap the tying thread in open turns towards the hook bend. Stop when you reach a location opposite the barb (see photo).

The lead wire is wrapped along the complete shank of the hook. Use a medium wire. A thick wire adds weight faster but is difficult to apply properly. A thin wire is easy to apply but adds little weight. So, medium is best.

Start wrapping at the tail of the fly. Wrap until you are about a hook's eye width from the hook eye. Nip off the wire and re-mount it at the shoulder of the fly and wrap a neat thorax. This is almost impossible, see photo, but we should make the effort. Using a wire that is not too thick helps.

When happy with the lead wire wrappings it is time to secure them. Doing this right is important because this fly will travel through the air very fast indeed and make sudden stops. If it is not secured it will come loose.

The lead wire is secured with the tyingthread. The idea is to cross wrap the lead wrappings. Start with wrapping the thread in open turns to the right. The same to the left. Be careful not to cut the wire with the thread by pulling too hard.
To secure the thorax, bring the thread just behind it. Take the thread in one go to the front of the thorax and make a turn. Next, go back in one go to behind the thorax and make a turn. You have created two horizontal threads along the thorax. Now, wrap the thorax a couple of times with the thread. The horizontal threads will pull the thorax together.

Wrap the tyingthread towards the end of the fly and apply headcement to the lead wire wrappings in generous amounts.

A tail is optional. I like it so I add one.
Take a small bundle of hackle fibres. I used a grizzle hackle but any will do. The length of the tail should be about 3/2 to 1 times the hook length. Tie is as shown in the photo.
Please note that on any other fly the tail is tied in first followed by the lead wire, but because in this fly securing the heavy wire is paramount the tail fibres are tied over the lead wire to help securing it.

The body complete. Start wrapping the body by tying in the chenille at the root of the tail. If you use a separate ribbing tie it in as well. Bring the thread forward to just behind the thorax and wrap the chenille to the same point. You will need to wrap the chenille tight because it will slightly lengthen when wet. Tie off with three turns. If you are using a separate tinsel, counter-wind it and tie off as well.

Another optional step: the thorax cover.
The thorax cover is made from hackle fibres. I used a crow's feather. Select, say, ten fibres and tease them off until they are at right angles to the rib of the feather. Snip off and tie in on top of the hook, just behind the thorax pointing backwards.

This photo shows the hackle fibres for the thorax cover and the peacock herl for the thorax tied in. For a hook size 12 I use three peacock herls.

The thorax made. What cannot be seen in the photo is that the herl is ribbed twice with tyingthread to make it more robust.

To complete the thorax its cover is tied down. This requires a bit of dexterity. One hand must keep the cover taut and in the right position while the other makes a wrap with the tyingthread. One wrap will keep it in place. Let go and check. When happy add two more turns. Make sure the cover stays on top, it has a tendency to roll to one side when tightly wrapped.
Wrap several times more to create a head and finish with a whipfinish. Do not forget to coat the thorax cover and the head with headcement.

• How to make a whipfinish.

This is it: The IJssel Nymph.