Prince Nymph
The Prince Nymph is peacock magic with white biot wings - imitating nothing exactly and out-fishing exact imitations on freestone rivers for ninety years.
Nobody fully agrees what trout take the Prince for - dark stonefly? caddis? drowned something? - and after ninety years of it out-fishing more careful designs, nobody needs to. Peacock herl's living iridescence plus the white 'V' of biot wings makes an attention magnet freestone trout approve of on inspection after inspection.
What it imitates
Attractor-nymph territory: vaguely stonefly-ish darkness with a flash of white that fish notice and don't question.
When & where it wins
Freestone rivers and their riffles everywhere; a west-slope staple as the searching nymph when nothing's hatching.
How to fish it
Standard dead-drift work - indicator or dry-dropper; a size 8-10 beadhead Prince doubles as a small-stonefly anchor.
Sizes & variants
8-16, beadhead near-universal; 'Psycho Prince' colors (purple, orange) for pressured-water novelty.
Tying notes
Biot tails and wings on peacock - intermediate; keep the white wings proud, they're the trademark.
Common mistakes
Relegating it to 'old-timer fly' status (fish disagree), and fishing tailwater technical flats where slim realism rules - this is freestone medicine.