Prince Nymph
Artificial fly
Bead Head Prince Nymph
Type	Nymph
Imitates	attractor, possibly stone fly
History
Creator	Doug Prince
Created	1930s
Other names	Brown Forked Tail
Materials
Typical sizes	4–18
Typical hooks	Nymph hook (TMC 5262;[1] Mustad 9671;[2] Daichi 7201; 2X long, heavy)
Thread	Black 6/0 Danville, 70 Deniers for sizes 4–14; 8/0 for smaller sizes
Tail	Black (original) or brown goose biots
Body	Black ostrich herl (original) or Peacock herl; lead wire
Wing	White goose biots
Ribbing	silver wire (original); gold wire or oval tinsel
Shoulder	black or brown hen neck hackle
Head	thread
Bead	Nickel or Tungsten (sized to hook: 5/32″ #8, #10 and #12; 1/8″ #12, #14 and #16; 3/32 #14, #16 and #18; 5/64″ #18-#22)
Uses
Primary use	Trout
Reference(s)
Pattern references	The Prince Family Tree, Ken McCoy (2021)[3]

The Prince Nymph is a nymph attractor wet fly used in fly fishing. It was created by Doug Prince of Oakland, California in the 1930s. It was originally known as the "Brown Forked Tail" and tied without a bead head and used black ostrich herl instead of peacock herl in the body. This fly is weighted. It is productive and popular fly and numerous variations have been created.^[4][5][6][7]

Origin

The predecessor of the Prince Nymph was called the Brown Forked Tail, which was created by two brothers Don and Dick Olson of Bemidji, Minnesota in the 1930s. This fly used a black goose-biot tail and white goose-biot wings. The wings were tied curved up from the body rather than down as in the Prince Nymph. This fly did not have a bead head and black ostrich herl was used in the body rather than peacock herl. Doug Prince of Oakland, California, adapted this fly to create the Prince Nymph, sometime in the 1940s. It appeared in Buz Buszek's fly fishing catalog in the 1940s with the name Prince Nymph for Doug Prince. A bead head and lead wire were later added. The wing was mounted with the biots curved down. This Prince Nymph or Bead Head Prince Nymph, as it is often called, is an attractor fly . Some fly fishers say it imitates a stone fly. It is often fished as a dropper below a dry fly.^{[3][8][9][10][2]}

Tying

In order to give the fly weight, a gold tungsten or nickel bead is used behind the eye of the hook. Lead or lead free wire^[11] is wound around the hook to add additional weight for fishing in deeper pools. Black thread in 70 Denier, such as Danville 6/0, is used for hooks in size #4 to #14 or Danville 8/0 for smaller hooks. The most common size hooks that are fished are size #14 to #18. The tail of the fly was originally tied using black goose biots. Brown biots are often used for the tail, which is tied with the biots mounted on the side of the hook and curved outward. Peackcock herl is now used for the body and gold wire or oval tinsel is counter-wrapped over the peacock herl. A white goose biot is wrapped on the shoulder with the concave surface facing down. A brown hen hackle is wrapped around the neck before whip finishing.^[4][2]

References