Flies Of Yesteryear: Mink Nymph

The late Doug Prince was responsible for at least a dozen popular fish-catching patterns during his era.  A few have lived on...  Ironically, one extremely popular fly bearing his name today, the Prince Nymph, wasn't devised by Doug.  Both the Brown Forked-Tail (Prince Nymph) and Black Forked-Tail were spawned by brothers Don and Dick Olson of Bemidji, Minnesota.  Prince only touted the two patterns.

Tying Notes:

The fur body of Mink Nymph calls for natural brown mink.  However, natural mink coloration can be found in several shades of brown from light to a very dark.  While a few tiers are persnickety to exacting the color of their flies I believe Mr. Prince gave us a wide option here.  The sheer buggy look of this fly and movement of the soft hen hackle in the water might possible make exacting the color secondary.

Doug tied the Mink Nymph on Mustad 7957BX hooks in size 6 through 14.  The fly was promoted as "an effective fly on larger streams and rivers for those real big fish."

Materials:

Hook:  1XL or 2XL nymph hook
Thread:  Brown (14/0 Veevus pictured)
Tail:  Soft brown hen
Body:  Natural brown mink tied full and shaggy
Hackle:  Dark furnace tied back over the body