TRICOS (MID JULY-FROST)

[Nick Pionessa]

Tricorythodes or Tricos are the most important late summer hatch on most of our waters. They range in size from 20-26 & begin emerging around the 10th of July in WNY. The males hatch in the night or late evening, the females hatch at first light. The emergence is followed soon after by the spinner fall which can bring up nearly every fish in the stream. The duns molt into spinners at 70 deg air temp, so if it’s warm over night they go right into the spinner fall. If it’s a cool night there will be a lull between the hatch and fall. The whole thing is usually over by noon. The hatch can be more productive than the spinner fall since the spinners can sometimes cover the water making pin point accuracy and perfect drifts mandatory. Three tails.

Trico female dun


S.S. TRICO EMERGER- FEMALE


HOOK- DAIICHI 1140 20-22
THREAD- WHITE
SHUCK- SOFT CREAM YARN
ABDOMEN- SUPERFINE GREY OLIVE DUBBING
WING- SNOWSHOE RABBIT FOOT MED DUN
THORAX- NATURAL MUSKRAT DUBBING

S.S. TRICO DUN


HOOK- DAIICHI 1110 20-26
THREAD- WHITE
TAILS- HACKLE FIBERS SPLIT
ABDOMEN- SUPERFINE GREY OLIVE DUBBING
WING- SNOWSHOE RABBIT FOOT MED DUN
THORAX- NATURAL MUSKRAT DUBBING

Male spinners




DNA OR ORGANZA SPINNER- FEMALE


HOOK- DAIICHI 1110 20-22
THREAD- WHITE FOR ABDOMEN BLACK FOR THORAX
TAILS- HACKLE FIBERS SPLIT
ABDOMEN- WHITE THREAD
WING- ABOUT 20 DNA OR ORGANZE FIBERS
THORAX- BLACK SUPERFINE

FAT BASTID PARA SPINNER


HOOK- DAIICHI 1110 24-26
THREAD- BLACK
TAILS- HACKLE FIBERS SPLIT
POST- WHITE POLY YARN
BODY- BLACK SUPERFINE
WING HACKLE- GRIZZLY TRIMMED TO SPENT WING SHAPE

Spinner laying on it’s side, very common


Clouds of trico spinners forming




Typical water conditions, low and clear


Fish rising in some interesting locations, taking advantage of the soft edges


They never make it easy


Staying back on the edges and making longer casts in the low water conditions




A fool for the SS emerger


And the SS dun




DNA spinner got this one


The FB para spinner fooled this guy


One of the best Trico patterns- a small black foam beetle. Likely doesn’t get the scrutiny the spinners get and can save a tough day.