Fly of the Week: Prince Nymph

The "Prince Nymph" was developed by Doug Prince, a fly tier in the 1940's and 50's. Doug Prince was born in Oakland California in 1902. He started tying flies in 1943 because as Doug stated  " I could tie better flies than I could purchase." He was entirely self taught and even developed a smooth "hand turned" whip finish technique of his own. Doug was an innovator of fly tying as he often used uncommon and new materials in fly tying, He is claimed to be one, if not the first, to use Deer Hair as a material particularly on the Royal Wulff. The "Prince Nymph" was developed around 1950. Doug originally called the fly a brown fork-tailed nymph.   However, a friend of his, Buz Buszek who published a order catalog of flies sold in his California Fly Shop, wanted to feature Doug's fly in the catalog but Buz could not remember what it was called. Buz decided to list Doug's fly just as "Prince Nymph" and the name has stuck ever since. Today, the "Prince Nymph" is world famous but is most commonly found to be popular among western fly fisherman.

Hook:   Nymph, 2X heavy, 2X - 3X long, sizes 6-20 Thread:   Black. Tail:   Brown goose biots. Body:   Peacock herl. Rib:   Fine gold tinsel. Wings:   White boose biots. Hackle:   Brown. Head:   Optional, brass bead

1. Mount a hook in the vise and form the weighted underbody. Use the split tail method...to mount the biots at the rear tie-in position. Mount the rib tinsel and trim the excess.

2. Form the body by mounting 2-4 herls, a short distance back from their tips, at the tie-in position. Then trim the excess. Use a dubbing loop method to form a thread loop that is as long as the herl and thread together, draw them downward, and grip them with hackle pliers. Use the hackle pliers to gently spin the herls in a clockwise direction to form a fuzzy chenille next to the hook shank. Do not spin the herl too tight or you may break one or more of your strands. Wrap the herl forward 1-3 wraps; then twist the herl clockwise to form the fuzzy chenille again. Continue this short wrap-and-spin cycle until the body is wrapped. Secure the herls with 3 thread wraps and trim the excess.

3.Prepare and mount a feather by its stem for the hackle. Grasp the tip of the feather with hackle pliers, and using close, tight wraps, take the desired number of turns forward. While maintaining tension on the hackle, take the bobbin the your left hand and secure the feather with 3 tight wraps. Trim the excess and bind down the tag ends.

4.Counter-wrap the rib over the body. Prepare and mount the hackle, and take 2-3 wraps of hackle. Secure the hackle and trim the excess. (Note: some people prefer to tye the wings in first and then the hackle over the wings. I prefer the wings over the hackle myself but you can use what you think is best)

5. Mount 2 biots on top of the hook shank as shown. Then trim the excess, tie off the thread, and finish the head.

The first picture is what the fly should look like when complete. The second picture is of a Bead Head Prince Nymph some times called a BH Prince. Best used in fast water like river but also effective in Lakes as well when fishing really deep. My best luck with this fly was at Duck Valley Indian Reservation in 2003 when I caught a nice 27" Rainbow Trout on a size 14 BH Prince Nymph. I fish it in the hot mid afternoon really deep when the fish are laying on the bottom. 

 As with any fly pattern try different color combination and sizes to get what you want these instructions are just the typical way the fly is tied. I some times tye this with red thread to and red wire on the body to give it kind of a royal coachman look. The color of the bead can be changed as well. 

  Tips for fishing the Prince Nymph:

In larger sizes such 6, 8 or 10 the Prince Nymph is a decent enough Stonefly imitation.  This is especially true if stonefly nymphs are crawling to the rocks to the shore prior to emergence.  The nymph works great with a rod tip motion and a hand retrieve

In larger sizes such as 6,8, or 10 the Prince Nymph works very well as a streamer.  Because of the white on the top versus the darker peacock herl with tinsel it's a very good general minnow imitation.  Fish it upstream bringing it back and you'll get some surprises.

It's an excellent pattern for dredging trout off the bottom when tied as bead head in larger sizes too,  especially in the spring.

Put some floatant on a size 14 or 16 and fish it in the film for a number of emerging mayflies and you may catch as many trout on it as your exact imitation.

As many fly anglers know it works good on a dropper at any place from the top to the bottom

A very small bead head imitation sizes 16 and 18 work very well (if you tie them thin) for Blue Winged Olive Nymphs (Baetis) especially on spring creeks.

It also makes a great emergency general caddis imitation if you cut the tail off!

Hope you enjoy the pattern and Tight Lines!

 Rippin' Lip