NYMPH: Prince

[John Pierce]

FLY: Nymph - Prince

Notes by Dave Robinson

POPULAR: Mayfly nymph imitation. Fish on bottom of lake or river under a strike indicator set at 1.5x water depth so that fly bounces on bottom. When cast upstream, leave rod tip down to keep line taught, raise rod as floats past you, let float past 45 downstream until below you, then give little tug as fish often will then strike. Works all year as mayflies always hatching and in nymph stage spend most of life on bottom.

MATERIALS

• HOOK: Tiemco 200R, size 14 to 10
• BEAD: Gold tungsten
• WEIGHT: medium synthetic lead wire
• THREAD: 8/0 Black
• TAG: Orange Floss
• TAIL: Goose biots - Brown
• RIB: Fine gold wire
• BODY: Peacock herl
• HACKLE: Brown neck hackle
• WING: White goose biots

TYING

• Wrap synthetic lead in about 6 loops onto hook shank.
• Put bead on hook.
• Wrap synthetic lead in about 6 loops onto hook shank and push up against bead (extra weight is to help get/keep fly on bottom).
• Tie on thread behind lead to hold lead against bead.
• Tie on Orange Floss at end of shank and wrap 1/8" wide butt at start of bend (25% more effective with orange butt than without).
• Cut off two dark goose biots and tie one on in front of butt at 45 degrees, tie second at opposite 45 degrees to make tail.
• Tie on wire from behind lead on far side of shank down whole shank (back side to better start wrapping later.
• Tie on two peacock hurl at end of shank, wrap hurl around thread, then wrap hurl and thread together around shank up to bead, unwrap excess hurl, tie off and cut off excess hurl.
• Reverse wrap wire up to bead, about 4 wraps, tie off and cut off excess (reverse wrap locks on hurl for protection from fish teeth).
• West fingers and pull back hackle feather barbs, tie on behind top and cut off tip. Fold back barbs with wet fingers and wrap hackle 2-3 times behind bead. Tie off and cut off excess. Wet fingers and fold the barbs down towards hook pointto look like legs, and tie on thread to hold down.
• Tie off two white biots behind bead at opposite 45 degrees as wings, same as tail.
• Wrap thread behind bead and tie off.
• Apply head cement.

COMMENTS

• This is an effective mayfly nymph imitation.
• Best fished under an indicator where permitted.
• The orange tag has proven to improve catch rates.

[John Pierce]

FLY: Prince Nymph

Notes by Dave Robinson

POPULAR: Mayfly nymph imitation. Fish on bottom of lake or river under a strike indicator set at 1.5x water depth so that fly bounces on bottom. When cast upstream, leave rod tip down to keep line taught, raise rod as floats past you, let float past 45 downstream until below you, then give little tug as fish often will then strike. Works all year as mayflies always hatching and in nymph stage spend most of life on bottom.

. 25% more effective with orange butt than without.


MATERIALS

• HOOK: Tiemco 200R, size 14 to 10
• BEAD: Gold tungsten
• WEIGHT: medium synthetic lead wire
• THREAD: 8/0 Black
• TAG: Orange Floss
• TAIL: Two brown goose biots
• RIB: Fine gold wire
• BODY: Peacock herl
• HACKLE: Brown neck hackle
• WING: Two white goose biots

TYING

• Put bead on hook.
• Wrap synthetic lead 6 wraps behind bead.
• Tie on thread behind lead to hold it up against bead.
• Tie on orange floss behind lead, wrap down well into bend, then wrap few loops to build 1/8" wide butt.
• Wrap thread to behind lead, tie on wire on far side of hook (to aid in later wrapping) to in front of orange butt.
• Cut 2 boits off of dark quill, tie one on loosely at 45 degree at bend with tail length same as hook gap width, add second at opposite 45 degrees to make them into a V tail.
• Tie on two peacock hurl at back, then wrap them around thread then wrap both around shank up to behind bead to build body, unrap excess hurl off thread, tie down, cut off excess.
• .
• Tie hackle on, cut tip off.
• Wrap Peacock Hurl behind hackle (to act as expander for hackle, and tie off.
• Wet hackle and stroke backwards, then wrap around, tie off.
• Wrap thread before eye to form head and to hold hackle back, tie off.
• Apply head cement.

COMMENTS

• This is an effective mayfly nymph imitation.
• Best fished under an indicator where permitted.
• The orange tag has proven to improve catch rates.