im about to tie a couple dozen prince nymphs and prior to starting I checked my pattern books for the material requirements. my books list this patterns as a , “brown forked tail”, which I believe is what doug prince originally called it when he created it. the photo accompanying the pattern description shows the white goose biots turned up on the completed fly, not down as shown on most renditions of this pattern.
we have some very knowledgeable people on this web site and was wondering, what’s the general opinion, up or down, and besides deviating from the original pattern, does it make a difference.
I think the fly looks cool with the tips curved up but the fish probably don’t care one way or another; tie half with them up and half with them down and see if you notice a difference.
Question reminds me of a story I heard. Fly shop owner once observed a customer going through every Prince in the shop. When the owner inquired if he could help, the customer exclaimed that he was looking for Prince Nymphs with one wing up and the other down, claiming that they were more effective, because they corkscrewed through the water, and thus caught more fish.
Have never seen one tied by Doug, but I, and most tiers I think, tie the wing concave side down.
The original had the tips curving up. That is how I have always tied them. They started to be produced commercially with the tips curving down and now that’s the way most people tie them. It probably doesn’t matter at all, except for personal preference.
I have seen a fly tied by Doug Prince. It was tied with a black or very dark gray ostrich herl body instead of peacock. I don’t remember it having a prominant rib. The tips of the biot wings curved up. And it was quite large, maybe a size 6 or 8 long shanked hook.
I usually tie mine with the biots curving up. Why? Once I let my Prince dangle in the water in the current next to me. Son of a gun! The darn thing wobbled like a bass plug! Sold me on the concept, for sure.
