tricos?

[macgruber]

i was out yesterday on the rush from about 630 till noon and found myself in the middle of a rather large mayfly hatch..... i'm guessing tricos, though it seems a little early for them doesn't it? regardless, i didn't have any mayfly imitations small enough along with me..... and even if i did, i soon discovered i'd left my floatant sitting on my dining room table, so i coudln't have really used 'em anyway....... long story short, i didn't catch any fish until the hatch tapered off at about 930....

so i was wondering (whether or not those were tricos) if anyone had some go-to patterns or recipes for the trico hatch..... either emergers or dries.... most of the rises i saw appeared subsurface, but i couldn't get arrested on any of the emergers or wet flies i tried in the film either....

gracias....

[WxGuy]

I'd bet the dollar in my pocket they were definitely tricos.

Trico spinner pattern in size 22 would prolly be the best answer, but those who fish the trico hatch far more often than I do might have some different answers. Some fish size 24 spinner patterns.

I've also heard some say they fish a sunken spinner pattern, so it's tied with a wire body but all else is similar. Some may tie their tricos in all black, some in gray.

Tricos can be very frustrating, for me anyway, but I'm hoping to get after 'em this month...hopefully this week. I'll have size 20-22 spinner patterns, and will be fishing with someone who knows a whole lot more than I do, so hopefully he has some patterns to share.

I hope this helps a little...

[Quickstrike]

those darn tricos! they can be frusterating for sure! I know some guys that really look forward to them and are very good at catching fish during the hatch, but I have trouble fishing and tying flies that small. Usually by the time the tricos are going, hoppers are also going well. I ussually fish afternoons with terestrial patterns to save myself the frustration.

I have seen tricos on the rush this time of year, especially with the recent warm weather it seems everything is a bit ahead of schedule. When i have had success, i have used size 22 tricos that i tie with a basic black no hackle body and a hair wing with lots of floatant. (basically because i have trouble tying hackle that small)

[so haaad]

Tricos are very distinctive in that they are basically a really small, "fat" bodied, black hatching mayfly. They usually come off during the morning, and time varies daily. However, their hatch seems to be very consistient with the temp - just before it hits 70 degrees - maybe by a half hour or so. Tricos are also very distinctive because they all hatch at once and can often form clouds of hatches which sometimes only lasts30-45 minutes. Trout on the Rush will feed selectively on Tricos during this hatch, so if you don't have a Trico pattern, you might as well grab the 7 wt rod and head for the Mississippi. It seems a little early for the big morning Trico hatches on the Rush, but it's been another strange year and anything is possible. As for patterns it really varies, but definitely use dries.

[DinkADunk]

Yep tricos. It's time for me to pull out the 1wt and have some fun. I run 22's to 32's on 6x to 8x tippet with a fairly long leader (12')

[macgruber]

how in god's name would one go about tying a size 32 fly? does it end up looking anything like a mayfly? looks like i'm gonna have to go a lot smaller on the tippet and the flies......

i'm pretty sure they were tricos-- i honestly didn't take all that close a look at 'em once i determined my floatant was missing..... i tried fishing the smallest adams and other dark mayfly patterns i had but they wouldn't stay afloat and i knew they weren't small enough..... so i quickly gave up trying and went subsurface and later terrestrial.....

it was crazy how focused the fish were, cuz while they weren't interested in my offerings, try as i might, i couldn't put 'em down either...... i must've drifted 50+ casts through one pod of fish and they were still poppin the surface like i wasn't there.....

the hatch stopped early on in the morning, but there were pods of active fish feeding on the surface when i left at noon.... they seemed to like crickets (the only fly i had that would stay afloat).....

[WxGuy]

It might not hurt to have some ant patterns handy these days as well. 'tis the season for lots of different flying bugs.

But macgruber, I've heard other reports of tricos as well, so it would fit the bill.

[DinkADunk]

Size 32 trico's are easy to tie, you sure don't need much material I use 3 diopter flip down magnifier to see them and a lot of well placed light. They're more fun trying to put on your leader when you're in the field. Sometimes I'll thread a few on to 3' pieces of tippet (sort of pre-rigged) and then just use a surgeons knot to tie them onto my leader.

[macgruber]

i'd never seen so many people parked at the accesses at 6 in the morning mid-week on the river-- and i've only seen that kind of activity that early in the morning when the trico hatch is going, so i'm guessing the word is out.....

i'll have to try the ants-- i've run into some bigger hatches of flying ants in june before.... that can be pretty fun...... this particular day after the mayfly hatch was done, i went to the big foam cricket, cuz i knew it would float without assistance, as i left the floatant at home..... the big fish seemed to like it till i broke it off...... strange thing was, they wouldn't take the hopper i tied on after i lost the cricket..... got a few refusals, but no takers......

it was still a fun day even with the morning's frustration-- i suppose it always is when i manage to get out there....

[Ufatz]

Say Dunk....where do you buy those #32 hooks? And what size tippet are you using? Curious.

[WxGuy]

ufatz, when might you be coming down to the Preston area?

[DinkADunk]

Just looking at the packaging I would say I got the hooks from Bentley's or Fly Angler. I'm using TMC518's in the 28 and 32 size. They're just like the TMC 100's but with a straight eye. For tippet, I use 8x for those real small ones, 7x and 6x for the larger (say 22 and 24) ones. I mainly use them on a 1wt rod that I tie my own 6x leaders (butt section of commercial leaders are too big so it really makes sense to tie your own).

[Ufatz]

Okay. Thanks. Last #32's I had came from Merry Olde England. Once had a dozen absolutely perfect hackled black flies of some sort in size #32 and they would all fit on my little fingernail!

I really want to waddle on down to Preston around 1st of Sept. Have had some hand surgery so can't really use a rod much yet except left-handed and am not that good at it yet.

[Ufatz]

Hi WXguy. Am going to try for the first of Sept. Will likely drag the A'Scream into the C'ground down that way and try to find some water that is easy to get to and easy to fish for a busted up old guy.

Maybe take one of my old time rods, made of grass, and an old time black and gold Baby reel. Ha!

Thanks.