Hook - Mustad 3906 or equivalent
Weight - Lead wire
Thread - Black or brown
Tail - Brown biot
Ribbing - Oval silver tinsel
Body - Peacock herl
Collar - Brown hackle
Horns - White biot
Hook – Mustad 3906B or equivalent
Bead - Gold brass or tungsten
Weight - Lead wire
Thread - Black
Tail - Brown biot
Ribbing – Oval silver tinsel
Body - Peacock herl
Collar - Brown hackle
Horns - White biot
From the Internet
"The Prince Nymph, known first as a Brown Forked-Tail
Nymph, imitates nothing – and everything – simultaneously. It has an inherent ‘bugginess’ that trout
find it irresistible. Its split biot
tail is bold, the glossy green peacock herl shimmers in the current, the soft
hackle collar breathes seductively, and the tinsel and white wings scream for
attention. It is your basic subsurface
attractor, one that has been catching trout for decades. Many devotees profess that it imitates
stonefly nymphs. Indeed, a Prince Nymph
does resemble juvenile stoneflies. But,
it resembles juvenile Christmas tree ornaments just about as well. Perhaps trout take it as a stonefly, but a
cased caddis larva, caddis pupa, mayfly or dobsonfly nymph, or even a drowned
terrestrial seem equally plausible. Does it matter? Not a bit.
Prince Nymphs appeal to trout, and that’s what counts when you’re
filling the fly box or tying a clinch knot.
Doug Prince of Monterey, CA is often described as the
originator of the Prince Nymph, but it was developed and first tied in the
1930s by Don and Dick Olson, brothers from Bemidji, MN. They called it the Brown Forked-Tail
Nymph. It acquired its princely name in
a roundabout way during the 1940s. Buz
Buszek, namesake of the Federation of Fly Fishers’ annual award for fly tying
excellence, owned a fly shop and mail-order business in Visalia, CA beginning
in 1943. He employed local tyers to
supply flies for the shop. Doug Prince
was not a commercial fly tyer, but he was Buszek’s good friend and tied flies
for him for one year in the 1940s.
Prince was a talented fly tyer who knew California rivers well. He tied his namesake fly for California’s
Kings River, but he called it the Brown Forked-Tail Nymph, presumably in
reference to the Olson original. Buz
Buszek was hurriedly preparing a new mail-order catalog one day, and he wanted
to include Doug Prince’s peacock-bodied nymph that was so effective. Buszek couldn’t remember the fly’s name,
however, and in haste he just called it the “Prince Nymph”. Buszek’s catalog was distributed throughout
the West, and the fly attracted a loyal following. Doug Prince’s name spread with the fly,
although he played no part in its self-congratulatory name. Doing so was not in his humble character: “I tied what worked for me, and that’s all I
ever really worried about.” Doug Prince
received the FFF Buz Buszek Memorial Award in 1981 but said at the time that he
had “no idea” why."
