The Fly formerly Known as Prince

The next fly tying session will be held at the Odd Fellows Hall in San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, November 28th at 6:30. Jim Snodgrass will demonstrate how to tie a modified . Jim learned this fly from an article in the Autumn 2017 edition of Magazine entitled “The Fly Formerly Known as Prince.” The article described how a Prince Fly was transformed with holographic plastic film and red tying to become “The Fly Formerly Known as Prince” (“Formerly” for short).

The Formerly was developed by Rick Lubrant after participating in a basic fly tying class in 1995. The instructor suggested buying supplies at a craft store rather than a fly shop in order to find interesting new ingredients for making wings or bodies. Rick discovered holographic plastic film, which he cut into blot-sized feathers. He then substituted the plastic film feathers for white goose biots on the Prince Nymph; added down the hook bend, and the Formerly was created.

Rick states that the Formerly is a nymph, so it should be fished deep and sometimes with a smaller dropper. He occasionally used a smaller version of the same fly as the dropper. The river determines the exact depth, but three to five feet deep usually works well. The Formerly catches fish on clear creeks as well as large cloudy rivers. Rick states that the Formerly is his go-to fly for fishing from North Carolina to Montana to California.

All materials will be supplied, but be sure and bring your own thread… Red 6/0 (140 denier) thread. The following are the material that will be used for the Fly Formerly Known as Prince:

Materials: Thread - Red 6/0 (140 denier) thread Hook - 2X-long nymph hook; size #18 - #12 Bead - Gold bead, size to match the hook Tail - Brown goose or biots Body - Peacock herl Rib - Gold tinsel Hackle - Brown Wing - Holographic tinsel

Web Sites on the Formerly Fly: http://intheriffle.com/fishing-videos/fly-tying/formerly-known-as-prince/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwy8ha0BVGs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxV3ZmDHTgw