King Prince

Rod King of the Bozeman Angler (our first customer) introduced the King Prince to Idylwilde in 1998. The King Prince, like Idylwilde, has grown from virtually unknown into a standard, general-purpose nymph pattern found in most fly shops today.

The King Prince can represent just about any food source found in most trout streams making it a go-to search pattern. Depending on the size fished, the King can represent: caddis pupae, mayfly nymphs, water boatmen, small stone flies. Further, it has a slim dubbed body that offers no resistance getting the fly into the zone fast. Hungarian Partridge is used for the collar, which imparts subtle movement as the fly drifts. The dubbing color is drab with small pieces of flash that occasionally catch light and flash giving the pattern another feature to draw a strike.

Guides and shop staff gravitate towards this pattern because it helps make them look good. When recommending flies on the sales floor shop staff don't know what sort of entomology skills the customer has, they can put the King Prince in anyone's hands and feel confident, no matter when or where they are fishing; their clients are in the game.

When, Where and How

Fish this pattern in any trout stream. It's a great search pattern. So, if there is no obvious hatch that you are trying to match, or that the fish are keyed on, use the King Prince. The fish will interpret the pattern for what they want to see it for keeping you fishing instead of constantly changing flies.

Generally this pattern is fished as a dropper. (Nymphs that are tied to the hook shank of a larger dry like a Chubby Chernobyl). The Dry-Dropper is the most popular way to fish nymphs out west because it allows anglers to fish dries and nymphs at the same time. Guides will also fish the King Prince beneath a Sindicator set up, using a larger stone fly pattern as the lead nymph with the King Price trailing.