8BEAD-HEAD PRINCE NYMPH
BEAD-HEAD PRINCE NYMPH
Hook: 2X-long nymph hook, sizes 20 to 12.
Bead: Small gold bead.
Thread: Black 8/0 (70 denier).
Tail: Brown turkey biots or hackle fi bers.
Body: Peacock herl.
Rib: Fine gold round tinsel.
Hackle: Brown soft hackle.
Wing: Two white turkey biots.
A tier named Doug Prince developed the Prince Nymph is the 1930s, and it has grown into one of our most popular subsurface patterns. According to Umpqua Feather Merchants, which is the largest supplier of commercially tied flies in the world, the Bead-Head Prince Nymph rivals the famous Copper John as its most popular pattern. The Prince Nymph, with or without a bead head, is a perfect pattern for novice tiers. It requires only a handful of common materials that you will find in any fly shop. Some say the Prince Nymph imitates a stonefly, but others say it mimics a mayfly or caddisfly. I think of the Prince Nymph as an attractor pattern that imitates no specific insect—or perhaps it matches several!
