Fly Tying Prince Nymph

This nymph was developed by Californian Doug Prince in 1941. Doug was also a winner of the FFF  Buszek Memorial Award in 1981. He tied the original pattern with black ostrich herl, and it survives to this day as the Black Forked Tail.   It uses black biots for the tail.    However, nearly every Prince (Nymph) that I have seen in books and fly shops is tied with brown biots and peacock herl.   It is sometimes called the Brown Forked

Tail.

Most anglers consider this a moving water fly, but I have used it with success in lakes.  In streams fish it like any other nymph. Cast so it drifts around boulders, through current seams, below riffles and other places where you think trout might be looking for food. Sometimes there are no clear features in the water or indications of subsurface irregularities.   Then I usually cast one-quarter upstream, and let the fly drift naturally downstream. Sometimes I let it sink a bit more by letting out line.   At the end of the drift the fly will swing toward shore.

Don’t be in a hurry to retrieve the line; let the fly hang for a while in the current below you. You might be surprised by a nice fish. Some writers say that fish follow the fly across the current and hit when the fly stopped. It could also be that the fish was searching the quiet near shore water for a bit of food.  It is usually several seconds after the swing is completed before the fish hits. Maybe it just got irritated at that bug swinging in the current. Normally I use a floating fly line and a 10- to 12-foot leader.   If the water is deep I’ll use a sink tip line and a shorter leader.

In lakes I’ll use floating to full sinking lines. On the sinking lies, I will shorten the leader to sometimes only five feet. Retrieves range from a slow hand twist to vigorous strip, but most of the time it will be an irregular strip/pause/strip type of retrieve.

Start thread behind eye and wind back to over barb.

Attach the tail. Tie biots in so the concave side is toward the hook, so when the thread is tightened they will flair outward a bit. Want the length to be about half the length of the body.

Trim excess butts on tail, and then tie on rib. Milt also uses gold oval tinsel or holographic tinsel.

Tie 3-4 pieces of peacock herl behind eye, wrap back to the barb and then forward for a full body.
Secure herl about two eye lengths behind the eye.

Reverse wrap rib so it goes across the herl and doesn’t sink into it. Half hitch after the rib is secured
to prevent bad language. Trim excess tinsel.

The next step is easier when the hook is turned over. A vise that rotates is a convenience for  this. You can use pheasant tail fibers for the beard rather than hackle. It is easier to handle. Pull the fibers straight out from the shaft to even the tips, and then pull them off. Tie them on the bottom of the hook with a couple of thread winds. If necessary pull the fibers one way or the other so the tips are just barely touching the point of the hook. When they are in the right place tighten the thread.

 Step 7: