The history of Doug Prince and his famous nymph.
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- Опубліковано 6 жов 2022
- One of the many variations of the classic Prince Nymph. Created by Doug Prince of California in the early 1940s, the original Prince is easily one of the top 2-3 most popular nymphs of all time.
Hook: #12-16 heavy wire
Tail: Brown goose biots
Rib: Oval gold tinsel
Body: Peacock herl
Hackle: Tan or natural CDC
Wings: White goose biots
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The prince has been my favorite and most effective nymph for the 15 years I've been fly fishing. Being a favorite of my dad's, naturally it wound up on the end of my line and has never failed me since. It just amazes me how effective it is and seems to work on days when nothing else will, across all seasons.
Same here Garrett! It looks so much like nothing in nature, but just works everywhere. My best day ever smallmouth fishing, in southwest Virginia a few years ago, was about a dozen nice fish, all on a size 14 Prince. :-)
Hello Matt. I really enjoy your videos, a lot of good information about the history and the story behind all the flies that we fish without knowing. Thanks for sharing this one, I really like to fish the prince's nymph and I didn't know the 10% about it.
All the best and keep the good work.
Thank you my friend! And I feel the same way. It's great to know a little bit of the history of the patterns we fish. It makes the experience a little bit richer. Hope you're having a great weekend!
The CDC looks great...much more buggy. Thanks for sharing Matt. Have a great weekend my friend.
Appreciate it Todd! Hope you had a great weekend my friend. :-)
Awesome. Another instance of old and proven still getting it done. Thank you Sir. Nice video.
Love this nymph and, yes, various colors depending on how I feel. 😊 it sure is a great fish catcher. Thx Matt and have a fabulous weekend.
Appreciate it Clyde! Hope you had a great weekend my friend. :-)
Thanks for sharing Matt, I often use these as my trailer. And yes they work they’ve been around for a long time for that reason. Have a blessed day my friend.
Appreciate it! Hope you had a great weekend my friend. :-)
IMO - the best nymph pattern ever created. Catches trout everywhere I go. Many times, it's the only fly catching fish
The prince is a deadly pattern.and I fish it alot.nice tie matt looks great
Adding the cdc was a great idea and a cool history lesson
Good looking fly Matt
Thanks for the video and have a wonderful weekend 😀
Appreciate it Dave! Hope you had a great weekend my friend. :-)
Fantastic pattern Matt, these fish awesome for me in a size 16. No box is complete without this pattern. Thanks for sharing and have a great weekend.
Appreciate it Layton! It's been a good weekend here on the farm. And today is a rest day... shopping with the wife and daughter. No fishing, but no tractor work either. :-)
We all need rest, but as for me, I'm walking to the river as I'm sending this. Have a great day
Awesome! Good luck brother!!
Another nice fly Matt! Thank you! I think I will be tying this one up for my WFFI Club!
Definitely Barbara! I'm not kidding that I have at least a dozen of these in my boxes at all times. :-)
Morning Matt. Yes, the Prince Nymph is a go to. Try tying a half dozen in purple and black. I was goofing around one day and brown trout love them.
I love it Nich! What do you mean, purple bead and black tail biots?
I use a black or gold glass bead. Purple body (wool) with gold wire (small). Black biot tail and white/tan biot wing. Thread is purple. I use white thread and a purple marker. Some weighted, most not.
Nice variation. And thanks for the history. It's always appreciated!
Appreciate it Troy! Hope you had a great weekend my friend. :-)
I've been tying my princes with CDC and a single white biot, ribbed down the back for a couple years now. Without fail, when I meet friends at the river and inevitably toss them a few flies, it's always the CDC styled nymphs (like this prince) they tend to have the most success with. It is for sure a confidence material for me and when used on a classic can set it apart in more heavily pressured water.
That's an interesting take on it Phil! When you say ribbed down the back, do you mean it's laying down the back, and the wire rib is over it holding it in place? That sounds pretty cool...
@@SavageFlies Yep, that's exactly what I mean. It's a simple tie and it looks really good wet.
Awesome tie Matt!!!
Appreciate it! Hope you had a great weekend my friend. :-)
Hi Matt, You are really getting good at tying in those pesky biots. They are always a bit troublesome. Also, I like the idea of the CDC. It's a good tie for all those low quality CDC feathers we all have. Well done.
Ha! Thanks Don. I think that's because between this and Lieb's bug last week I've tied a couple dozen flies with these pesky biots recently. Thanks for the note and have a great weekend my friend. :-)
Gidday Matt. Nice work. Thanks.
Appreciate it Ken! Hope you had a great weekend my friend. :-)
Another great fly Matt. All a Prince needs is a Royal Coachman. Can't wait to see what you come up with in a couple weeks when we get ready for Pumpkin Hollow. Have a great weekend.
Oh I've already got some plans Phil! Well, sort of. I should say "ideas." :-)
Hey Matt 👋. This is one fly i'v been wanting to see you tie. This fly is my favorite of all the flies I use. It has caught me a ton of fish. I fish three different sizes, and none of them have beads. As we speak, I'm going fishing right now. Chasing wild brook trout. My fly, you guessed it, a no.14 prince nymph. Thanks so much for this tie. Have a great weekend 😀. Tight lines.
Jim- let me know how you did! I got out on the Savage Friday night for a couple hours. I thought about hitting one of the small brook trout tributaries, but ended up having enough fun in the main stem. But... you just gave me an idea about fishing pictures. I'll bring it up in Tuesday's video. :-)
@@SavageFlies caught several today,but the brookies didn't want the prince. I end up catching them on a midge pattern I made up a year ago.
Love the history on this fly and it's possible predecessor. I will now try tying them after seeing this video. Keep up the great work.
Appreciate it Ed! Hope you had a great weekend my friend. :-)
Looks great Matt thank jyoi
Appreciate it Dan! Hope you had a great weekend my friend. :-)
Nice job Matt
Appreciate it George! Hope you had a great weekend my friend. :-)
I’ve never had luck with the prince nymph. Not one of my confidence flies that’s for sure. 😢. But I do appreciate it for its artistic value.
Good morning Matt. I like that variation with the CDC. I have a number of Prince Nymphs in my box but I’m going to add some of these. Sometimes a small change makes for big results. Thanksgiving weekend starting up here. Looking forward to Thanksgiving dinner. Take care and have a great weekend.
Oh that's right! The second Monday in October. Have some delicious turkey and Brussel's sprouts for me. :-)
Good stuff, Matt. Another great history lesson that changes what I previously thought correct. That CDC collar is a great addition!
Appreciate it Jim! Hope you had a great weekend my friend. :-)
I’ve tied princes’ for years. Didn’t know what they were called until now. Thanks Matt!
You bet Jim! Thanks for watching my friend. :-)
Nice fly. Need to try this one.
Appreciate it Dale! Hope you had a great weekend my friend. :-)
Really nice Matt,
Good morning ☕️☕️
That bug is amazing, even though I am a worm kinda guy🤣🤣🤣and that music was very relaxing 👍
Thanks Jim! I woke up to 33 degrees at the farm this morning. This is definitely long-johns weather. :-)
@@SavageFlies it’s 42° here Joyce and I have a picnic at the lake after I fished. And it turned off windy and cold 👍
Nice tie Matt. I’m pretty sure I’ve never tied a Prince. My father gave me a bunch of them years ago. There pretty much used up now, time to tie one myself.
Absolutely Mike! If you're a trout fisherman (or panfish and smallmouth) you need at least a row of these in your box. :-)
Sweet looking fly
Appreciate it Jeff! Hope you had a great weekend my friend. :-)
@@SavageFlies it is my pleasure Matt. You have a wonderful weekend as well
I like to use cdc on mine also. Thanks Matt.
Appreciate it Chad! Hope you had a great weekend my friend. :-)
Another nice fly Matt. I guess I need to get some CDC as I don't have any, or at least not much, in my materials arsenal. Keep the good stuff coming buddy.
Appreciate it Dave! Pick up some of these cheap bags by Hareline. It's what I use and they seem to last me a good while. www.jsflyfishing.com/hareline-cul-de-canard-feathers
Another great one. I read about the Brown Fork Tail after your Lieb's Bug video. I really like that BFT and the L Bug. But, I never got past tying and fishing the Zug Bug and variations of it. I like winding the peacock around the thread. I'll have to try some ostrich bodies or winding both peacock and ostrich herl around the thread sort of like Alec Jackson's "Spade" style steelhead patterns.
CDC is another material that I've yet to use, but I finally bought a pack a while back. Lately I've read there's different types of CDC and a learning curve as to the amount / type to use. To paraphrase that orange juice ad "it's not just for dries anymore". Cool video Matt, thanks! 🦆😏👍
Joe- thanks for the note! I'm enroute the farm but wanted to let you know I didn't make it to the post office yesterday (work kept me late!) But I got it dropped off this morning. Alas, you probably won't get it tomorrow but I suspect Tuesday. Have a great weekend! I'll be tractoring. 🤪
@@SavageFlies That's OK 👍 Have a good one!
Thanks, Matt. I tie these with white bucktail for the wing and short tail. I actually trim the end of tail and wing flat! (l don't like biots; they're kind of a pain, and they aren't durable). I seem to have better luck with kind of a rust colored body instead of the peacock. Sooooo I guess it's kind of a Tom special... Cheers, Tom
Hmmm... Trying a bump on the back before the biot tail, I never thought to do that. I like it.
Thanks for the note Ryan. I can't remember who I saw do that first but it does make it a bit easier.
hey matt thanks see ya joe.
CDC makes sense for the legs on these. Have to remember to try on any small nymphs I tie. Thanks Matt.
Absolutely Mel! Hope you had a great weekend my friend. :-)
Great fly, thanks for the history Matt. I’ve used the older pattern (without bead) and caught many a fish. I really like CDC and was wondering when it actually became a fly tying material. All the best to you and your family. PS My new hip is progressing nicely, in five more weeks I have no restrictions, woo hoo!!
Great to hear Mark! As far as when did CDC become a common material... hmmm. That's a great question. I'm going to have to look through some of my old books and see when I first notice it being used. But come to think of it, I can't recall seeing it in really old patterns.
Such a good fly. Being thrifty (cheap if I’m going to be honest), I’m not likely to tie a Prince Nymph with CDC which is a bit pricey. Since the fly is weighted. I prefer to stick with less expensive partridge or pheasant feathers for the collar, even though your version does look good.
Thanks Bob! I've never thought of CDC as being pricey, but maybe I'm not using the good stuff. I just get these packs from Hareline and they seem to last long enough: www.jsflyfishing.com/hareline-cul-de-canard-feathers
I want to learn making flies, help me where will I get the tools and material, please let me know.thanks
Is there a method to biot wings? I find myself switch hands, aligning up, placing them on the hook just to drop a wing and repeat process. So frustrating!
It's just practice Casey! I do the same thing my friend. You just don't see it in my videos because if I drop them and if it takes me 20 seconds to pick them back up, and get them realigned in my fingers, I edit that dead air time out. Not that I'm trying to hide anything, it's just that I've learned if I leave too much time in between steps in the videos, people will click off and go somewhere else! But I can tell you that the more I've tied with them, the better I have gotten and the easier it becomes. Eventually. :-)
@@SavageFlies I figured it's a patience. And a little easier after earning some time with this. Im finding out why I hear fly fishing takes a higher level of skill. Definitely falling in love with this. Can't wait to use my own flys. Thanks again for your encouragement and how to videos.
Good Morning Sir Matt, great video this morning Sir. I really like this variant of the Prince and I really want to try the ostrich herl red with black peacock herl Crackle Back version tell me what you think please. Have a great weekend Sir Matt 😀
I think that would be a cool fly Edward... go for it!
Now you need to tie the Brown Forktail.
I know Allen! I just might add that to the list. :-)
Nice nymph matt ever try duck boots for smaller flies
Thanks Burt! I do have some duck (and turkey) biots but most my flies are in the sizes that the goose work fine. Even in small flies, I just take some of the smaller goose biots close to the end of the feather.
I see you do most (if not all?) your tying using 70 denier thread. Is that what you would recommend for a new fly tier to use? Or should I get some 70 and 140?
I would recommend getting used to 70d first. A couple of reasons- you can tie a wide range of sizes with it, and if you learn with the thinner stuff, stepping it up to a 140 when needed will be a piece of cake. A 140 is definitely the best choice for spinning deer hair or tying big meaty streamers, but 90% of my flies are just fine using 70. BTW, if you haven't seen it, I did a thread primer a year or so ago that has some pretty good info. Thanks for the question!
@@SavageFlies I did, it was very helpful! I haven't actually started tying flies yet but I am thinking it would be something fun to do if I have time. I am torn because I only have a 5wt rod but I have been watching a lot of Kelly Galloup's videos and he does a ton of articulated flies which look so cool. I fish the Occoquan but am hoping to hit a couple of the stocked (by Va DWR) trout streams this year.
👍💪
You did something here that I see almost all youtube fly tiers do, and I don't understand it. When you wrap the lead or lead-free wire, you had a long tag end that you just pinched off, and I assume discarded. Why do you do that instead of just wrapping the exact amount of wire that you need without wasting any? Like I said, it's not just you, I see it all the time in these videos. But when I tie my own flies, I don't have a tag end, I just use exactly what I need, It seems wasteful, and that stuff ain't cheap.
This is actually a great question... and you're making me think here! I don't have a good answer. I'm betting it's because it's a bit easier this way and most of us are lazy. But also, when you see a fly in a video, it's an extreme close up view and it may look like we're wasting a lot of wire, but it's really only about a half inch. But then again, even that would add up over several flies. And you're right... the lead-free wire is not cheap! I'm going to try it like you the next time I use wire in a video. Thanks for the note. :-)
one hundred and first lol 😂😂🤣🤣
That's biots.
Ha! I knew what you meant. I didn't even notice the typo. :-)