Prince Nymphs

Prince Nymph

Bob Petti

As far as I know the Prince was created by Edward Prince of Michigan. It is a pretty good pattern and has caught lots of fish for me. The pattern which basically represents nothing and everything is more less a cased caddis sort of pattern. It can be used as an Isyonica pattern for late summer and early fall fishing as well in the Northeast. Of late I have seen many patterns which are more or derived from this central pattern. By changing several things you can get some ideas how to refresh an old pattern.

The standard pattern for the prince is this:
Hook: Mustad 9671 or 3906b size 10-16
Thread: 6/0 brown or black
Rib: fine gold tinsel
Hackle: brown hen
Tail: brown goose biots for tail
Topping: a crossed pair of white goose biots.
Body: Peacock herl

The easiest thing to do to change this fly is add a bead. Okay, easy you say. Not so easy for nymph hooks. Usually to add beads on nymphs , take a pliers and bend the hook out about 10-15 degrees. I often grasp the hook between the bend and the point. If you yank too hard you will snap the hook. To bend back put it in your vise and push down hard on the hook shank. Remove and reinsert the hook to make it level again. Wow!
I add holographic tinsel to the for the rib and use ginger hen, for all my princes. I think that this lightens up the fly's appearance and makes it more attractive. The holographic tinsel adds some character to it also.
A good tip to do when making the fly is to run a bit of Zap a Gap down the back of the thread and then wind on the hurl, you must use a sparse amount of glue or the body will be very hard. Usually, I just touch it and run it down.

A common guide fly in Montana is to sub rubber legs/white for the biots. They often fold the legs in a v shape and tie in by the tail and the tie one on the top. Some folks sub in red thread to give it a bit more of a collar. The rubber legs allow you tie this a bit quicker. One fly sold by Orvis for many years is the Rainbow Prince. This is combination of things which include: adding white round rubber legs for the tail and wing, substituting fox fire lite brite for the peacock hurl body. My wife ties this with a black bead in a size 8 and uses it for a stonefly, she also ties this in several other sizes as it is one of her favorite flies. The Lite Brite changes the fly and adds more sparkle to it.

A really hot fly this season in the Northwest is a Prince made using dark olive brown dubbing mixed with a green sparkle dub ( or Lite Brite), the fly is tied on a shrimp or scud hook and the tail is pheasant fibers. The hackle is tied as a beard instead of in the round. I'm not sure the name of this one, I guess it is the Prince emerger? I do know that some places they can't keep this on hand. It looks good to me, I may tie some to
fish it this fall. There you go, adding a little spice to several old ideas will add some interesting twists
to an already good fly.A little flash and glamour get added to dress up something which already works pretty well..

Beadhead Prince
Original Beadhead Bob Petti	Hook: Your favorite nymph hook Tail: Brown goose biots, tied split Ribbing: Gold tinsel Body: Peacock Herl Wing: White goose biots Hackle: Brown Head: Gold bead

Beadhead Prince - Red Collar
Beadhead Prince - Red Collar Bob Petti	Hook: Your favorite nymph hook Tail: Brown goose biots, tied split Ribbing: Gold tinsel Body: Peacock Herl Wing: White goose biots Hackle: Brown Collar: Red thread Head: Gold bead

Ginger Prince
Ginger Prince Bob Petti	Hook: Your favorite nymph hook Tail: Ginger goose biots, tied split Ribbing: Holographic Gold Tinsel Body: Peacock Herl Wing: White goose biots Hackle: Ginger Head: Gold bead

Dubbed Ginger Prince
Dubbed Ginger Prince Bob Petti	Hook: Your favorite nymph hookTail: Ginger goose biots, tied split Ribbing: Gold tinsel Body: Dark Olive dubbing and flash Wing: White goose biots Hackle: Ginger Head: Gold bead

Rainbow Prince
Rainbow Prince Bob Petti	Hook: Your favorite nymph hook Tail: White rubber, tied split Ribbing: Gold tinsel Body: Lite Brite dubbing Wing: White rubber Hackle: Brown Head: Gold bead

Prince Emerger
Prince Emerger Bob Petti	Hook: Your favorite nymph hook Tail: Brown goose biots, tied split Ribbing: Gold tinsel Body: Dubbing - mix of dark olive brown fur dubbing and green sparkle yarn. Wing: White goose biots Hackle: Partridge, tied as a beard Head: Gold bead

Laura's Rainbow Prince Stone
Laura's Rainbow Prince Stone Bob Petti	Hook: Long shank nymph Tail: Brown goose biots, tied split Ribbing: Gold tinsel Body: Lite brite dubbing Wing: White goose biots Hackle: Brown mottled hen Head: Black bead