Prince Nymph = Stonefly Pattern

[mic]

I like prince nymph's but I never thought of them as a stonefly pattern.  Do you?  If yes, what size do you tie?

[jtram]

I let my princes be whatever they need to be , #8s are my go to size. ( so yes i guess I do)

[fishinwrench]

I don't think the fish take time to calculate what it is or what it might be.  It looks like a yummy morsel so they taste it to see. 

[DainW]

Yeah I think prince nymphs in larger sizes (the largest I've ever seen is a 10 I think), can be a pretty good stone fly imitation. I was throwing big prince on the piedra river last summer which has a pretty healthy population of stoneflies, and it was really effective as the dropper on a dry/dropper rig. That being said I prefer a Pat's or a 20 incher if I'm trying to imitate stoneflies. 

I usually fish a prince when I'm trying to imitate caddis (pupae or larva I'm not an entomologist and am unable to keep that straight, would've just said nymph but didn't want to sound like a noob) in sizes 14-18. I especially like the psycho prince variation when I'm fishing a caddis hatch. I do agree with both wrench and jtram though. The prince is a great generalist pattern that can be used to imitate mayfly, caddisfly,  and stonefly nymphs depending on what size you're fishing them and under what conditions. I even know some guys here in Oklahoma that fish big prince nymphs for smallmouth bass in the summertime. I guess they make a pretty good dragonfly nymph imitation as well. 

[Al Agnew]

It's a buggy looking fly that, with the white wings and dark body, is probably highly visible in murky water.  I tend to use Princes mainly in water with some color for that reason alone.  I really don't care what it imitates...with the white wings it probably doesn't imitate anything all that well.

 

[snagged in outlet 3]

I've never used one.

Hare's ear either.

Pete

[Gavin]

It's a god fly for rainbow trout. They seem to like that color combo, but don't think it imitates anything. Like the Pats a lot better, always works were stone flies and/or crawfish are abundant.