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> > Trico Spinner, as requested
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A "generic" synthetic spinner. 2488 hook size 20.
My current favorite synthetic wing material - EP Fibers
My current favorite synthetic wing material - EP Fibers
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A fly for really flat water. The "McFly Foam" wing is almost transluscent when wet. Difficult to see on broken water. It does't float well after a dunking unless it is dried on a bandana, paper towel, your shirt, spare toilet paper or whatever you have handy. But it is worth the effort on those really picky ones...
2488 hook size 22.
2488 hook size 22.
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CDC wing floats like a cork. 2488 hook, size 20. A great fly in a riffle, or the head of a pool. Shawn will love the fact that there is no synthetic material in this fly.
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Sunken spinner. The abdomen is UTC wire, and the wings are Krystal Flash. 2488 size 24.
Shawn will hate the fact that there are no natural materials in this fly.
Shawn will hate the fact that there are no natural materials in this fly.
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Reverse Hacklestacker. Since I taught Lastchance how to tie this, I no longer have an advantage!
2488 size 22. Whiting size 20 grizzly hackle.
My best all around trico pattern. Works during the entire hatch. Often I'll have a male on the 3 weight (size 22 2488) and a female size 20 2488 on the bamboo 4 weight
2488 size 22. Whiting size 20 grizzly hackle.
My best all around trico pattern. Works during the entire hatch. Often I'll have a male on the 3 weight (size 22 2488) and a female size 20 2488 on the bamboo 4 weight
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I can't take credit for this one. Louis tied this, and I stole it from his box. An upside down "compara-hackle" trico dun/spinner. I believe this is tied on the Varivas 2300 hook. I hope that he comments on the materials used. I stole two of them, and the other is in the jaw of a fat 16" brown. Very delicate and a great fly on really pressured fish.
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Traffic-Jam Cluster fly. Tied on a # 16 standard dry fly hook. White mini "Ultra Chenille" and size 14 Whiting grizzly hackle.
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Our favorite secret trico water. Lastchance has caught and released that thousand pounder in the foreground on the left twice! He even tagged her ear after the first release.
In this photo, he is stalking the bank feeder on the right.
In this photo, he is stalking the bank feeder on the right.
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Is there anything better than tricos, 7x, bamboo and wild browns? Add Bruce, Goose, Lastchance, Feathers5 into the mix, and it's always a great time!
| Gutcutter | June 26th, 2012, 6:51 pm | |
 Posts: 470 | Spence wrote:How about showing us a picture if you can. I think we all would like to see your flies with Trico season about to get going here soon and Spence is heading north in the middle of July...:) Kurt wrote: Ditto Well, these are a few of my favorites. Comments, please | |
| All men who fish may in turn be divided into two parts: those who fish for trout and those who don't. Trout fishermen are a race apart: they are a dedicated crew- indolent, improvident, and quietly mad. -Robert Traver, Trout Madness | ||
| Martinlf | June 26th, 2012, 9:43 pm | |
 Moderator Palmyra PAPosts: 3233 | Hey, I wondered what you were doing in my flybox. You said you just checking out the Scotch tape hinge. With you stealing flies and Bruce taking my evening attire, I'll soon have nothing to fish with, and nothing to wear around the campfire. The upside down Trico is indeed tied on the Varivas 2300 (formerly 988) hook. It looks like the Dettes in Roscoe may have some of these now, but I'd call to confirm: http://www.detteflies.com/varivas_2300 Microfibbet tail, thread abdomen, superfine thorax, grizzly hackle, trimmed on the top that becomes the bottom of the fly. I've taken to reverse hackling these, though that one was whip finished at the eye, and I put a little superglue on the thorax where the hackle is trimmed. Last week after trying a number of different flies on a fish that was in a spot to have already seen many, many flies before I came along, I tried one of these in size 26, tan, to match the olive spinners on the water. He came up immediately and took the fly, made a blistering run, wrapped me around a stick, and got off. But I didn't care after getting him to eat. It does work on pressured fish. Gonzo has another very effective upside down Trico in his book. My standard Trico is based on Al's Trico,(see below). It lets me get an Al's Trico silhouette with a much more visible parachute fly. For all my Tricos I use a short shank hook, (Tiemco 500U, Tiemco 2488, Tiemco 921, Daichi 1640, or best of all. if you can find them, a Varivas 988—now 2300). I begin by winding two or three layers of 10/0 thread on the shank for the abdomen (black for males, white, green, or chartreuse for females. With females, I whip finish the thread, then tie in black just at the bend and finish with black thread), I tie in a white high vis post near the bend. Other materials may be used, and black, pink or orange posts can sometimes better be seen in glare. I use Gary Borger's method, slipping the high vis under the shank and pulling both ends up to create a post that can't pull out. A few X wraps under the hook to secure the post, a tiny drop of super glue at the base and some more quick X wraps and posting wraps at the base of the post and up a bit, and the post is ready and won't slip around later. Then I strip some barbs from an oversize grizzly hackle, tie in it in along the shank and then wrap the stem up the post to to reinforce and stiffen the post. Next I wrap a small ball of black dubbing for the thorax, wrap the hackle around the post and tie off. (I wrap clockwise and when done, trap the hackle stem with the thread under the wraps, and with the hackle tip pulled straight down by the hackle pliers, I whip finish using a whip finish tool under the hackle on the post with a 3-4 wraps. An ultra-mini drop of gorilla glue on the thread of the final whip finish loop that is going to be pulled into the knot is pulled in from below, avoiding the hackle, to lock it all in permanently.) Or you can wrap the parachute counter-clockwise and tie off on the shank, just behind the thorax, whip finishing along the shank.) Finally, if you wish (though I’ve stopped doing this for tiny flies), snip off some hackle barbs just above the eye and the shank to create the illusion of two wings to the sides, and your’re done. That’s right. No tails. The high vis post makes the fly much easier to see than Al's Trico, and it can be left long or trimmed/flattened if the fish seem to mind it. I haven't noticed that they do mind the post, though some fish seem to want a different style of fly sometimes. Hard fished Spring Creek trout in State College took the parachute readily the last time I tried it on them. It's often the first pattern I tie on, switching around to other styles if the fish won't take it. The parachute Trico can be used as a midge imitation also. I use this pattern, reverse style as above, or with the parachute near the eye for larger spinners as well, though I do add tails for these usually. Al's Trico from http://www.littlelehighflyshop.com/generic3.html [website now gone, as Rod has sold the shop]: ________________________________________ ”One of the Little Lehigh's treasures is Al Miller. Al starts at the eye of a size 24 Mustad #94840 hook and winds 12/0 thread (black for males, white for females) to the bend. He ties in a #22 grizzly hackle. A black thorax is dubbed and tied in over the spear of the hook. Two or three turns of grizzly are wrapped over the thorax and tied off. Winding the thread to the eye and whip finishing it completes the fly.” | |
| "He spread them a yard and a half. 'And every one that got away is this big.'" --Fred Chappell | ||
| Entoman | June 26th, 2012, 10:34 pm | |
 Posts: 2604 | VERY nice flies, gentlemen. I can see you're all a bunch of tricomaniacs. Ours aren't that small out here (females #18 & males #20 on average). The white ones I dress spent and the greens upright. The black males only seem to work for me a third of the time or less. So Tony... In spite of all your ocean adventures, Bruce has had a bigger critter on the line? Tony & Louis - I'm very intrigued by your reverse tied designs. Makes me wonder about drift. With the fly going down ahead of the leader, it seems to me that the posture is more natural. I haven't worried about this too much before, but I believe most flies will drift head first. If the fish are extremely pressured (and where aren't they anymore), this may be something the fish notice? | |
| "It's not that I find fishing so important, it's just that I find all other endeavors of Man equally unimportant... And not nearly as much fun!" Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Fisherman | ||
| Oldredbarn | June 26th, 2012, 11:37 pm | |
 Posts: 2608 | Fellas! I told Mack how to post photos and asked for some Trico pictures and get a wonderful Trico dissertation...I better be a little more careful here! :) Anyone want to mail me a million bucks? :) I will tell you guys that you have my blood racing...I have said here before that I used to fish this hatch like the madmen you all appear to be, but couldn't get free for quite some time during the hatch...I'm heading up in mid-July with my 3 & 4 weights and now a few new wrinkles to try. It is a great, classic, dry fly hatch...I should have lata's about and the tiny little olives as well and a dinky Baetis or two...:) I don't think I'll hook a cow along the Au Sable, but we all know that the Tag Alders aren't safe...;) Thanks! Spence Tony & Louis - I'm very intrigued by your reverse tied designs. Makes me wonder about drift. With the fly going down ahead of the leader, it seems to me that the posture is more natural. I haven't worried about this too much before before, but I believe most flies will drift head first. If the fish are extremely pressured (and where aren't they anymore), this may be something the fish notice? :) Kurt...Maybe they have noticed that the ones that come downstream "backwards" always seem to poke them in the lip...:) Hey, I wondered what you were doing in my flybox. Louis...You let Tony nose around your boxes!!! Are you crazy? :) He probably was making photos, while your back was turned, on his iphone and zapping them to the home computer and his photo-shop so he could blow them up for a closer look and take his time figuring out what you are up too...:) In the past we had to de-construct stolen flies when we got back home to the vice...He's probably got some super-duper device at the hospital that looks right through flies...You have to watch that man! :) You know he called me once from the operating room just to tell me my Wings were going down! ;) | |
| "Even when my best efforts fail it's a satisfying challenge, and that, after all, is the essence of fly fishing." -Chauncy Lively "Envy not the man who lives beside the river, but the man the river flows through." Joseph T Heywood | ||
| Martinlf | June 27th, 2012, 10:53 am | |
Moderator Palmyra PAPosts: 3233 | Tony, thanks for reminding me about EP fibers. Nice sparse wing on that fly. Though I favor hackle fiber wings, I had meant to try EP this season. The McFly Foam wing is intriguing too. DNA Frost Fiber is supposedly a hot new spinner wing material. I picked up some and will give it a go as well. Trico season--the best. Kurt, I compared a natural with a size 26 male Trico the other day (Varivas size 22 short shank hook) and they were an exact match in size. Size 28's work better for me in August. And I do have some 30's. I fish males mostly, saving the females for difficult fish. | |
| "He spread them a yard and a half. 'And every one that got away is this big.'" --Fred Chappell | ||
| Entoman | June 27th, 2012, 2:18 pm | |
Posts: 2604 | Spence-:) Kurt...Maybe they have noticed that the ones that come downstream "backwards" always seem to poke them in the lip...:) Ha! My thoughts exactly! :) Louis - Size 30? Wow. On the 500U's I can get away with pretty much the same methods & materials as I showed above. The little White-winged Blacks are pretty stocky. For us it's the tiny baetids that are problematic as their bodies are almost too thin to imitate with a bare hook!:) Imitating them (or tying on size 30 hooks) requires a whole new paradigm. Kudos for your examples. | |
| "It's not that I find fishing so important, it's just that I find all other endeavors of Man equally unimportant... And not nearly as much fun!" Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Fisherman | ||
| Oldredbarn | June 27th, 2012, 4:44 pm | |
Posts: 2608 | Size 30 hook...Wow! I still have a packet of old Vince Marinaro Midge Hooks at a size 24 that I'm hanging on to for nostalgic reasons...I think Partridge stopped making them K1A's they were numbered. I have some boxes of Mustad 94840's in 20,22,24,& 26, but I don't think I can see these as it is...A size 30 and I'll need some special lens' glued to my cheaters! Maybe Tony can get us some at cost in bulk. :) I also have two packets of Roman Moser Barbless Dry Fly Hooks in 14 & 16 (CS27 Partridge) that are sweet hooks that I'm hoarding for some unknown reason. Someone has to help us...Really! We need an intervention here. :) Especially those of us who are hoarding old hooks and those that think its really important whether or not ones fly is heading downstream head-first or arse-first. :) Spence | |
| "Even when my best efforts fail it's a satisfying challenge, and that, after all, is the essence of fly fishing." -Chauncy Lively "Envy not the man who lives beside the river, but the man the river flows through." Joseph T Heywood | ||
| Martinlf | July 1st, 2012, 1:01 pm | |
Moderator Palmyra PAPosts: 3233 | Spence, I know you're right. We have our own special kind of obsession going. But one never knows when that thing you've been holding onto is needed . . . and woe to you if you've let it go just before. Or if you didin't buy that pack of umbrella hooks or that batch of whatchamacallit--just in case--and suddenly need it. Tony, the EP Fiber also makes a great parachute post. I like it better than Hi-viz, though it looks very similar, because it's straighter and longer. I had a hank of it in clear/white I bought for another purpose (and, Spence, never used it for that) and now I'm glad I have it for making Tricos. I'm looking into the neon red to replace a very visible fluorescent red post material that I may eventually run out of (and have no idea where it came from now). Thanks again for mentioning the EP Fiber. Spence, I am fully aware of the irony and humor in my own comment, "may eventually run out of." See I'm in full hording mode. | |
| "He spread them a yard and a half. 'And every one that got away is this big.'" --Fred Chappell | ||
| Shawnny3 | July 1st, 2012, 1:34 pm | |
Moderator Pleasant Gap, PAPosts: 1197 | Shawn will love the fact that there is no synthetic material in this fly. Shawn will hate the fact that there are no natural materials in this fly. At least there was no foam. I'll give you a free pass on the other stuff. Beautiful little flies, guys. I'm working on getting a proper outfit for fishing these little buggers, but that won't be ready until next year, methinks. I'd be happy to join your madness anyway. I'll catch the stupid ones and watch you guys catch the smart ones (or, in Bruce's case, the big ones). -Shawn | |
| Jewelry-Quality Artistic Salmon Flies, by Shawn Davis www.davisflydesigns.com | ||
| Lastchance | July 1st, 2012, 2:20 pm | |
| Portage, PA Posts: 437 | Hey Antonio, that Hacklestacker is outstanding and was again today. Hooking those cows is nothing, but how about the size of that stringer I have to carry? Another fun morning on the water with you, Tony. Louis, my girlfriend says she will replace your campfire outfits. Shawnny, haven't you heard the old saying, "If it ain't foam, you might as well go home?" | |
| Martinlf | July 1st, 2012, 5:47 pm | |
Moderator Palmyra PAPosts: 3233 | Well, Bruce, I'm glad you now have another source for your wardrobe. At last I can bring out the Gucci without worrying about it disappearing. Can't say the same for my flies with Antonio around though. Just wonder if he's checked his capes lately; let me know when he notices the one that's missing. | |
| "He spread them a yard and a half. 'And every one that got away is this big.'" --Fred Chappell | ||
| Wbranch | March 6th, 2013, 1:26 pm | |
 Posts: 2733 | What is the intent of tying the trico in reverse? I don't get it - please illuminate me. | |
| Catskill fly fisher for fifty-five years. | ||
| Martinlf | March 6th, 2013, 3:10 pm | |
Moderator Palmyra PAPosts: 3233 | Pure perversity. :) Actually Al's Trico, the Little Lehigh pattern I based my parachute spinner on, was tied that way (see above). I'm not sure why he did it, but I like the way the fly looks, and it fishes very well, so, if it ain't broken . . .. I also tie most of my hackle spinners as parachutes, but I tie the post on near the eye for most of them these days. Go figure? It is easier to deal with the tails that way. I don't put tails on my Tricos unless they are needed for balance. | |
| "He spread them a yard and a half. 'And every one that got away is this big.'" --Fred Chappell | ||
| Entoman | March 6th, 2013, 6:04 pm | |
Posts: 2604 | Matt, Unfortunately the best explanation I can come up with only raises more questions... If you want the fly to proceed before the tippet over the fish, this means a tail first presentation. Do most mayflies proceed down stream tail first or head first? If the fish can become selective to size, color, and silhouette, why not orientation? All I know is sometimes they work when the "wing up front" patterns don't. | |
| "It's not that I find fishing so important, it's just that I find all other endeavors of Man equally unimportant... And not nearly as much fun!" Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Fisherman | ||
| Wbranch | March 6th, 2013, 10:11 pm | |
Posts: 2733 | Okay so there really isn't a really good reason nor do they work any better. "Do most mayflies proceed down stream tail first or head first?" Thanks Kurt but... Ah, who really cares? I surely don't. In the grand scheme of my life I think the importance of that answer is down around zero. | |
| Catskill fly fisher for fifty-five years. | ||
| Falsifly | March 6th, 2013, 11:03 pm | |
 Posts: 661 | What is the intent of tying the trico in reverse? I don't get it - please illuminate me. Ah, who really cares? I surely don't. In the grand scheme of my life I think the importance of that answer is down around zero. So what was the original intent of the question? Maybe it’s as simple as some prefer fishing from a drift boat and some prefer wading. | |
| Falsifly When asked what I just caught that monster on I showed him. He put on his magnifiers and said, "I can't believe they can see that." | ||
| Feathers5 | March 7th, 2013, 9:13 am | |
| Posts: 287 | I tie them that way to confuse the fish. They don't know which way the water is flowing. They are like, "Dude, what's the deal with that fly? Which way is the water flowing? I'm confused--let's eat." It's true. I read about it in Hatches 4. They get totally freaked out. Oh, I meant Hatches 4 7/8. Sorry, Louis. Bruce | |
| Martinlf | March 7th, 2013, 10:48 am | |
Moderator Palmyra PAPosts: 3233 | Shhhhhh, Bruce, this is supposed to be a secret method! . . . So he wrote about it in Hatches 4? He promised he wouldn't. Oh no, now the cat's really out of the bag. Everybody reads that book. | |
| "He spread them a yard and a half. 'And every one that got away is this big.'" --Fred Chappell | ||
| Wbranch | March 7th, 2013, 2:24 pm | |
Posts: 2733 | "So what was the original intent of the question?" Duh, well I guess I thought there was a valid reason, based on emprical data, and if they did produce more strikes than conventional ties I would of given them a try. But maybe like you I wanted to be a ball buster. "Maybe it’s as simple as some prefer fishing from a drift boat and some prefer wading." Yup, I love drifting down the river and catching those hogs that waders can't reach. I love it when a guy can't get out of the way of my Hyde and I knock him down. HeHe. | |
| Catskill fly fisher for fifty-five years. | ||
| Entoman | March 7th, 2013, 6:02 pm | |
Posts: 2604 | "Do most mayflies proceed down stream tail first or head first?" Thanks Kurt but... Well, I tried...:) well I guess I thought there was a valid reason, based on emprical data, Empirical data on the effectiveness of fly designs? Even if it existed, such data would be inscrutable as the lack of veracity in angler reports is an immutable law of nature. In other words it would all be crap akin to what's been floating on some currents of Troutnut Creek lately.:) Winter's almost over, boys! | |
| "It's not that I find fishing so important, it's just that I find all other endeavors of Man equally unimportant... And not nearly as much fun!" Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Fisherman | ||
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