Psycho Prince
UMPQUA FEATHER MERCHANTSNeither we nor Mike Mercer ever anticipated the success of his original Psycho Prince, the orange belly. It continues to catch fish exponentially. It is clear that it has attained the status of a "guide fly", one that produces when the trout close their mouths to the usual standards. This fly design is an amalgam of diverse materials that Mike used to design an impressionistic/attractor nymph, blending the key properties he found successful in so many other "generic" searching flies, especially the Bead Head Prince:
• body of Ice Dub
• a carapace of turkey to help mute the brilliance of the dubbing, and giving the dark back/light belly effect Mike prefers for many of his nymphs
• biot tails and wings of course it is a Prince alternative after all
• a bright and colorfully contrasting wing case Sensing this fly had some magic to it, we decided to experiment over the last year and create additional colors. After considerable trial and error we really love Mike's final color choices, colors that are either no–brainers (Caddis Green), or just coming into popularity (Purple and Dirty Pink), to the next great secret color (Blue), the hottest steehead color going today.