A Perfect Prince?

A week or so ago, I was talking with Aaron about the old standard, the Prince nymph. I commented that I didn't tie them very well, but wanted to learn how to do better. I carefully read the section in Craven's book, and learned a lot. These aren't perfect, and not as good as Nymphmeister Torrey's, but they are the best ones I ever made (and saved me about $30!). One thing I have learned is that when you tie with beads and lead wire, it really pays to vary the bead sizes and lead diameter carefully. Craven's book is worth buying just for the charts he has in this regard.

The recipe:
Hook: Size 12 TMC 5262
Bead: Tungsten 1/8in
Weight: lead or lead free wire: 0.020in
Body: 6 strands of fluffy peacock herl
Thread: UTC 70 threads, black for underbody, contrasting color for the collar
Tail: Brown goose biot: from the tip of the biot where they are finer
Wing: white goose biots from base of feather where they are thicker
Rib: Extra fine gold French tinsel
Collar: brown genetic hen (mine has a little barring in it, from the Brahma variety)

Hope you like these, I'm not too embarassed to show you!

The "standard" variety:
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...e/IMG_0709.jpg

The gold bead variety with red collar:
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...e/IMG_0711.jpg

and finally, my favorite new one for '09, a "lime" variety with fluoroscent green collar and peacock herl dyed bright green:
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...e/IMG_0710.jpg

Perhaps you will tie some of these and find success in 2009. They are perfect as a mid-weight Euro anchor, and absolutely essential in CT, especially as the sky grows darker towards dusk. What do they imitate? Stoneflies? Maybe. Isonychia? Maybe. Fish-catchers? Yes!

As a bonus, I made of few these too:
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...e/IMG_0712.jpg

and the Farmington killer sans bead:
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...e/IMG_0713.jpg

Those are some great ties Alain. Good work on those. I am sure it took you quite a while to ties those. Well done!

Great looking flies. May tie some of the green version today. One tying trick that I have not seen too often is you can lock in the biots by folding the biot butt (the section that would be over the bead upon tie in) back over the fly, and then lock them in with thread wraps. Every now and then the biots would fall off and since I have done this, not an issue any more. My favorite version of late for these are the wired body Princes.

Kaz, thanks for the tip, that's actually one that I use. I tie in the white biots with the tips pointed towards the front of the fly, then I fold them over, split them to 30 degrees and tie down again over the fold. Craven does not recommend doing this step, but I've been doing them this way for a while. I also feel that it locks the white biots in better. I actually just bought some herl dyed purple, so I am making some of those later. I feel that purple is an under-utilized color in fly tying. Thanks again.

The prince is one of my favorites and those sure do look great. I too have been using the brahma hen for the wet fly collar and think it works quite well. Is chickaboo the same thing as brahma hen? Nice call on the hot spots for the prince. Good luck with them.

The webby, soft hackle feathers on both capes are identical, but the difference is that on the chickabou, you also get the other feathers that resemble small maribou. Here's a picture, with the Brahma hen on left and the chickabou on right:
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...b_ct/capes.jpg
The round part of the cape at lower right is the chickabou feathers-they are great for small emerger-style wings or small wing buds on nymphs.

Very nicely done Alain. I find that to tie a BH version of the Prince, it's noticeably more time-consuming. I've generally done them sans bead in the past, but with the Euro nymphing I've been practicing for the better part of the past year, I find myself using BH ones a lot as an anchor fly (and a fish-catching one at that). I currently carry tung bead ones in #10 & 12, and non-bead lightly weighted ones in #8-20, and I find both versions useful. Those lime green ones look like they will be killer.

I generally don't fold the biots back to lock them in when I do a non-beadhead version, but I do find it helpful when tying with beads. You mentioned that a tungsten BH Prince makes a good midweight anchor, and I'll further add that if you bump up to a #10 with a 5/32" tung bead and .025 lead it makes a nice moderately heavy anchor, and if you go to a #8 and bump the lead up to .030 (with either a 5/32" bead or even a 3/16" if you want to go all-out) you have a truly heavy anchor fly, yet one that still catches fish in fast water.

Were you able to squeeze any .010 lead wire into those Zebra Midges?

Torrey, yes. On the Zebra midge, I used a size 18 TMC 2499SPBL with a 5/64in nickel bead and 0.010 lead, about 8 turns. Even if you don't desire the added weight, I find it essential to use the lead just to center the bead on the shank. It is much easier and quicker to do it this way, rather than putting a thread base under the bead.

In the same manner, I made these today, my version of Davy's whitetail midge. I am still learning how to make the tails come out right:
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_0716.jpg

I also made my "improved" flashy Hare's ear on a size 18 TMC 100 SPBL:
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_0720.jpg
This fly uses the SLF Prism dubbing in the Hare's Ear shade. It is really flashy, but I already have so many drab versions of the same fly!

Finally, here is the "Purple Prince." For this one, I used purple dyed herl and a wine colored wire rib with wine thread. I only have the wine thread in 6/0, so the collars are a little bulkier than I like. Mike and I had some success with wine-colored Copper Johns last year, so this influenced my thinking. For those that don't have it, "wine" is pretty much synonymous with "burgundy."
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_0714.jpg

I like the idea of tying some GIANT Princes in a size 8...and plunging them in to the fastest water I can find.

Don't lose those prince's! There is about an hour and a half of tying there.

Very nice Alain, I'm ready to place a fly order with you now. ;)