Trico patterns

[Eagle204]

I'm planning to making it out fishing this weekend and hoping the rain in south central PA has finally stopped for a few days. The local fly shop's stream report includes tricos in sizes 20-24. Does anyone have any recipes or images of patterns of tricos that they like to tie? I'd like to tie some up for my fly box this weekend. I've found some recipes on the net; I'm just wondering if anyone on here has tied tricos and may have first hand advice.

 

[dc410]

I'm planning to making it out fishing this weekend and hoping the rain in south central PA has finally stopped for a few days. The local fly shop's stream report includes tricos in sizes 20-24. Does anyone have any recipes or images of patterns of tricos that they like to tie? I'd like to tie some up for my fly box this weekend. I've found some recipes on the net; I'm just wondering if anyone on here has tied tricos and may have first hand advice.

I generally always went pretty simple when it came to trico patterns. These are mostly just black thread and a wisp of black fine and dry dubbing at the thorax with spentwing dun colored snowshoe rabbit wings (no tails). In the upper left of the photo is one of my trico patterns with spent poly wings and microfibett tails. That’s my fancy version but I never remember it seriously outfishing the really simple ones. Most of these are tied on #20-#22 curved shank hooks. It’s been quite a few years since I fished a decent trico hatch. Good luck.

 

[Eagle204]

I generally always went pretty simple when it came to trico patterns. These are mostly just black thread and a wisp of black fine and dry dubbing at the thorax with spentwing dun colored snowshoe rabbit wings (no tails). In the upper left of the photo is one of my trico patterns with spent poly wings and microfibett tails. That’s my fancy version but I never remember it seriously outfishing the really simple ones. Most of these are tied on #20-#22 curved shank hooks. It’s been quite a few years since I fished a decent trico hatch. Good luck.

View attachment 1641238015

Thanks DC, I appreciate the advice! I figured that at the smaller sizes some of the details have to be left off. I'll try your pattern as soon as I can.

 

[mt_flyfisher]

This isn’t the best picture, but this box of mine probably has well over 100 different (what I’d consider as a variety of) Trico patterns, mostly size 20-26. (There may also be a couple #18’s). I believe some are similar to what @dc410 showed you, while a few of which have cdc wings, a few (difficult to see in my picture) are tied parachute style with black bodies, while others have black fur or thread bodies and a variety crystal flash material for wings.

I know you didn’t ask, but I’m getting too old to fish such small flies these days, and I’d like to sell this entire box of flies (if any one sees this and might want to buy them).

 

[afishinado]

Al's Trico pattern in size 24 is really all you need, IMHO. I've caught many, many trout on this pattern during the spinner fall in PA, NY, Out-west, and everywhere I've fished. And it's very easy to tie. Good luck.

Dry Flies - Al's Trico

 

[Eagle204]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm definitely going to try tying all these variations. Here are some that I whipped up last night based off what @dc410 posted. These are size 20 light wire scud hooks with thread bodies and peacock ice dub thoraxes. The wings are Widow's Web. Two have rather sparse wings and two are pretty heavy; I'll see what seems to work best. @mt_flyfisher I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous about my middle aged eyes being able to see these, especially if it's overcast. I'm going to give it a shot though!

Any criticism or advice on my ties is welcome.

 

[Bamboozle]

Like DC410, I just tie a simple spinner pattern but Tricos are one of the few flies where I'll do a few variations and I employ a few tricks because the fish get fussier the more times I fish the hatch at the same place.

I tie generic spinners that I call Tricos with black thread abdomens. I also tie the abdomen with white and very pale light olive thread (BCS 020) to imitate female Tricos. On all three versions I use 2 white or 2 light dun Microfibbets split widely for the tail even though the natural has 3.

I use Black Superfine dubbing but prefer Peacock Black Ice Dub for the thorax. The trick to Ice Dub is to use VERY little and dub with a VERY tacky wax like Overton's or BT's Super Tacky.

The spent wing is where I get fancy...

First I like it very sparse but I use three different materials. First I tie in 2 or 3 and only 2 or 3 strands of pearl Crystal Flash. After that it is a barely a wisp of white or pale dun EP Fibers or HiViz.

After that is tied in, I add a single strand of black Crystal Flash at the front of the wing and pull it forward to simulate the light black leading edge on the wing on the natural. Then I trim the completed wing on each side of the fly to the length I feel is correct.

I USED to tie wings made of nothing but pearl Crystal Flash, about 6 or so strands. They worked great and had the sparse look I like but they diidn't float as well as a combination wing.

Other tricks I do for fussy fish is tie two Tricos on the same shank facing each other a larger hook like a size 20 to imitate two flies together. I also thread one or two regular Tricos on my tippet followed by knotting one to the end of my tippet to simulate a cluster.

In addition, I tie a few sinking spinners with black & white abdomens made of Ultra Wire and I tie a generic female dun imitation as thorax pattern with a brown body and dun tails, wing & hackle. A really small BWO works just fine too.

As far as technique goes, I always fish 7X or 8X and make constant very small adjustments to my presentation to change the drift if I get refusals from steady risers.

One other thing, don't go home when the spinner fall ends, tie on a beetle...

I can't tell you how many fish and how much fun I've had fishing the water with a beetle after a Trico spinner fall. My only reasoning is, like eating hors d'oeuvres at a fancy dinner party, I imagine the trout are a bit frustrated after sipping tiny flies all morning so they are still hungry and looking up. 😉

 

[Eagle204]

Like DC410, I just tie a simple spinner pattern but Tricos are one of the few flies where I'll do a few variations and I employ a few tricks because the fish get fussier the more times I fish the hatch at the same place.

I tie generic spinners that I call Tricos with black thread abdomens. I also tie the abdomen with white and very pale light olive thread (BCS 020) to imitate female Tricos. On all three versions I use 2 white or 2 light dun Microfibbets split widely for the tail even though the natural has 3.

I use Black Superfine dubbing but prefer Peacock Black Ice Dub for the thorax. The trick to Ice Dub is to use VERY little and dub with a VERY tacky wax like Overton's or BT's Super Tacky.

The spent wing is where I get fancy...

First I like it very sparse but I use three different materials. First I tie in 2 or 3 and only 2 or 3 strands of pearl Crystal Flash. After that it is a barely a wisp of white or pale dun EP Fibers or HiViz.

After that is tied in, I add a single strand of black Crystal Flash at the front of the wing and pull it forward to simulate the light black leading edge on the wing on the natural. Then I trim the completed wing on each side of the fly to the length I feel is correct.

I USED to tie wings made of nothing but pearl Crystal Flash, about 6 or so strands. They worked great and had the sparse look I like but they diidn't float as well as a combination wing.

Other tricks I do for fussy fish is tie two Tricos on the same shank facing each other a larger hook like a size 20 to imitate two flies together. I also thread one or two regular Tricos on my tippet followed by knotting one to the end of my tippet to simulate a cluster.

In addition, I tie a few sinking spinners with black & white abdomens made of Ultra Wire and I tie a generic female dun imitation as thorax pattern with a brown body and dun tails, wing & hackle. A really small BWO works just fine too.

As far as technique goes, I always fish 7X or 8X and make constant very small adjustments to my presentation to change the drift if I get refusals from steady risers.

One other thing, don't go home when the spinner fall ends, tie on a beetle...

I can't tell you how many fish and how much fun I've had fishing the water with a beetle after a Trico spinner fall. My only reasoning is, like eating hors d'oeuvres at a fancy dinner party, I imagine the trout are a bit frustrated after sipping tiny flies all morning so they are still hungry and looking up. 😉

Thanks for all this good info, @Bamboozle. Thanks to all who offered up advice and examples of the patterns they tie and use. The trout weren't biting for me on the Yellow Breeches last weekend, but I walked away having had a beautiful morning on the water and with some new patterns in my fly box. 🙂

 

[laszlo]

Like DC410, I just tie a simple spinner pattern but Tricos are one of the few flies where I'll do a few variations and I employ a few tricks because the fish get fussier the more times I fish the hatch at the same place.

I tie generic spinners that I call Tricos with black thread abdomens. I also tie the abdomen with white and very pale light olive thread (BCS 020) to imitate female Tricos. On all three versions I use 2 white or 2 light dun Microfibbets split widely for the tail even though the natural has 3.

I use Black Superfine dubbing but prefer Peacock Black Ice Dub for the thorax. The trick to Ice Dub is to use VERY little and dub with a VERY tacky wax like Overton's or BT's Super Tacky.

The spent wing is where I get fancy...

First I like it very sparse but I use three different materials. First I tie in 2 or 3 and only 2 or 3 strands of pearl Crystal Flash. After that it is a barely a wisp of white or pale dun EP Fibers or HiViz.

After that is tied in, I add a single strand of black Crystal Flash at the front of the wing and pull it forward to simulate the light black leading edge on the wing on the natural. Then I trim the completed wing on each side of the fly to the length I feel is correct.

I USED to tie wings made of nothing but pearl Crystal Flash, about 6 or so strands. They worked great and had the sparse look I like but they diidn't float as well as a combination wing.

Other tricks I do for fussy fish is tie two Tricos on the same shank facing each other a larger hook like a size 20 to imitate two flies together. I also thread one or two regular Tricos on my tippet followed by knotting one to the end of my tippet to simulate a cluster.

In addition, I tie a few sinking spinners with black & white abdomens made of Ultra Wire and I tie a generic female dun imitation as thorax pattern with a brown body and dun tails, wing & hackle. A really small BWO works just fine too.

As far as technique goes, I always fish 7X or 8X and make constant very small adjustments to my presentation to change the drift if I get refusals from steady risers.

One other thing, don't go home when the spinner fall ends, tie on a beetle...

I can't tell you how many fish and how much fun I've had fishing the water with a beetle after a Trico spinner fall. My only reasoning is, like eating hors d'oeuvres at a fancy dinner party, I imagine the trout are a bit frustrated after sipping tiny flies all morning so they are still hungry and looking up. 😉

Holy crap, Bamboozle, that's like a college course in Tricos.