Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2014 - 10

Fishing the
Beadhead Prince Nymph
by Carl Haensel

photos by the author

When you're getting the itch to head out to your favorite
trout stream, include some Beadhead Prince Nymphs
in your box. The Beadhead Prince Nymph is a good allaround option for both stocked and wild trout and is an
excellent fly to use to start your fishing day.
The hackle on the front of this fly allows it to be fished
on the swing like a wet fly in addition to a plain dead
drift. The weight of the bead gets the fly down quickly
and keeps anglers from adding additional weight that
makes casting challenging. One of the best places to fish
the Beadhead Prince Nymph is in a deep run going into
a pool. You can choose to fish the fly by itself, or with
a trailer fly tied on after it. At the end of your drift, try
stripping the fly back to you in short sharp strips, followed
by a long pull. This can be very effective if the water is a
bit cloudy. If you are fishing a particularly sharp drop-off
from a run into a pool, try using a large amount of weight.
This may be as many as three BB- or even AB-sized
splitshots. If you have to cast some distance, it can be
fished with a strike indicator. Roll casting or water loading
a heavy rig like this is best. If your cast is short, remove
your strike indicator and "high stick" your fly. Follow the
line where it enters the water as your splitshot and fly drift
down the stream. If there is hesitation in your drift, react
firmly with a sharp hook set. Let the splitshot bounce
along the bottom of the stream as it drops from the riffle
into the pool. Keep some contact with your flies at all

A fast run into a deep pool offers a great location to fish a Beadhead Prince
Nymph. Get it down deep, and make sure you connect with the bottom
from time to time. You'll lose flies, but sometimes you'll hook the big one.
Over the years, this run has produced trout up to 22 inches long for me,
sometimes just minutes after other anglers fished it shallowly.

times to determine their depth. You will likely snag up on the bottom
regularly using this technique, but you may also catch some of the
biggest active trout in the stream.

Top nymphs for spring trout fishing

Early spring is a great time to try new flies. Trout have not seen much fishing pressure, and with water levels often up and
streams cloudy, many nymphs can work well. In general, the nymph should be larger and brighter the cloudier the water. If
you are targeting wild trout, this is sometimes superseded by the need to mimic the most abundant and active nymphs in the
stream at the time you are fishing. Also, the gradient of the stream you fish-that is how steep it is and how quickly it drops
through the landscape-plays a role in the nymphs that fish prefer. Steeper streams hold more large rocks and fast runs.
These runs will hold more stonefly and fat, clinging mayfly nymphs that can be matched with buggy patterns like the Hare's
Ear. Slower streams may hold more swimming nymphs matched with pheasant tails and other small patterns.

Pennsylvania Angler & Boater * March/April 2014

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Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2014

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