Tips on Fly Fishing with Tricos

When I first started fly fishing I told myself that I doubted if I’d ever fish the Trico hatch because I tried to reason that such a small creature surely wouldn’t catch decent sized trout. I’ve since learned better.

Trico hatches occur anytime between July and September. They can occur on many freestone streams but in talking to some Spruce Creek (PA) friends, I have learned that they are most prevalent on spring creeks. The key is that it must be warm and there needs to be plenty of vegetation nearby.

Tricos a very tiny. Your trico imitation should be between a size 20 and 26. The biggest challenge in fishing the trico hatch is that this hatch is usually pretty dense. With all those tricos on the stream, it can be quite a challenge to not only see your imitation on the water but also to get it exactly into the feeding lane of your targeted trout. You will undoubtedly need perfect placement and also timing as trout feeding on tricos can be quite selective since they are so plentiful and usually will not travel far from their feeding lanes.

In tying your tricos, make sure to tie a full-bodied fly. Find any photo of a natural trico and you will see a thick thorax. I’m amazed at the number of brick and mortar and online fly shops that sell the ultra thin tricos where there is hardly any variation in size between the thorax and the abdomen. You will want this in both the duns and spinners.

Also, how often do you see any fly shops selling anything but the Trico spinners? Not often, right? I don’t know this for sure but if I had to venture an educated guess, I would say this is because few people get up early enough to fish the trico dun stage. The trico hatch is a very early hatch. If you want to fish the dun stage, you’ll need to be on the stream before sunrise. If you arrive just after sunrise, chances are you’ve already missed the dun. As a general rule, if you wish to fish the dun stage, be on the stream 30 - 45 minutes prior to sunrise. As soon as it’s light enough to detect a strike, it’s time to fish the trico dun. After that, it’s spinner time.

The trico spinner will also be a full bodied fly but will be black in color and is usually tied with spent or splayed wings of white poly or antron yarn which when wet look like the natural transparent wings. If you are not having much luck fishing the spinners, try moving downstream in a slow moving pool where spinners collect. Since you are now in a clear, slow moving pool, you’ll need to practice some stealth techniques as the trout will have a visual advantage now. Move very slowly, stay back as far as possible and use longer 5x, 6x or 7x tippets.

Lastly, if you’re a nymph fisherman, don’t count yourself out. Many larger trout will key on the nymphs during the early morning hatch. Naturally the best choice will be the specific trico nymph which has a thick brown thorax and a thinner, slightly tapered yellowish-olive, ribbed abdomen but, in a pinch, you can also use a small, sized 18-20 pheasant tail nymph to imitate this particular nymph. You’ll want to fish the trico nymph during the same times as the trico dun and can sometimes even fish it until slightly after the hatch has ended.

This is not an easy hatch to fish and will take some practice but will yield some awesome results once you master it. Remember to observe where the trout are feeding and also the timing first to accurately cast to that location. You’ll also want to make sure you are using an accurate imitation as we have discussed here. Observe these and you’re on your way to successful trico fishing.