Trico Tactics

As I write this, our local rivers are subsiding from the pulse of water provided by the remnants of Tropical Storm Debbie. While we were sidelined for a few days from chasing tricos, we are back in business at just the right time. Water temperatures are also well within tolerable ranges so the fish will be happy. There will be plenty of opportunities to chase tricos as summer slowly fades and hints of fall begin to show.

Below is the second part of my trico series that was originally published in the Manchester Journal in 2017. I have updated it a bit to take into account what I have learned via experience and conversation with friends about meeting and mastering the trico hatch.

The sight of trico's dancing above the river is always a pleasing one. Rising trout are not far behind.

The air temperature registered 46 degrees as I drove past the Spring Hole in Shushan, N.Y. early on a recent morning. With the sudden chill in the air, I knew that the trico spinner falls that had been taking place early on our recently warm mornings would be delayed on this fall like morning.

This leads me to my first lesson I can offer in presenting on tactics for meeting and fishing tricos: plan ahead. Recall that in the previous post, I noted that spinner falls of this diminutive mayfly commence when air temperatures reach the 68-degree mark. While this is not a hard and fast rule (I have seen spinner falls commence at 64 or 65 degrees on rapidly warming mornings), it is certainly a good rule of thumb. By taking a glance at the forecast for the next morning before you tuck yourself into bed you can decide whether or not an extra hour of sleep can be had.

Given our often-variable air temperatures, it is not unusual to see a spinner fall happen at 9 am one day, only to see bugs on the water at 10:30 or even 11 am if the morning chill lingers the next day. If I had an ideal morning for trico spinner falls it would on a day when the morning temperatures start at about 60 degrees, with temperatures moderating steadily to about 78 - 80 degrees. Conditions like these typically put the flies on the water between 9 and 10 am and offer a solid 60 - 90 minutes of fishing to rising trout.

Now that we have the weather out of the way, how does one effectively fish to the "white winged curse" as the late Vincent Marinaro once referred to these flies? Others may say differently, but for my money, I will employ a downstream and across cast whenever possible. I prefer this presentation because it puts the fly over the fish ahead of my tippet and also provides a nice angle at which to set the hook. This does require stealthy wading. Ideally, one will set up to fish prior to the trout even beginning to rise.

It is NOT necessary or advisable to makelong casts. If you can approach within 20 to 25 feet of rising trout (they tend to feed in pods of 6 - 12 fish), then you are minimizing the amount of line on the water. This has multiple benefits that include reducing the amount of line one must manage, the ability to make quick and easy casts, and the critical ability to get drag free drifts over feeding trout more consistently.

Deanna Lyons working a pod of trout rising in a quiet back-eddy. Stealthy wading put her in position to make easy presentations with short casts. Several fish were brought to hand.

A bad habit a lot of anglers get into is to make excessive false casts. Every time you are waving your rod back and forth a message is being sent to the trout that something isn't quite right. While false casting will dry your fly it is important to not overdo it. And if your fly sinks, have no fear, the natural do too. My friend Rob Oden, a four decade plus Battenkill aficionado prefers to fish sunken tricos. Before changing out your spinner or touching it up with some powder, let it drift subsurface and see if you get a tug or two.

Another critical part of successful trico fishing is to use as long a leader you are comfortable with fishing. My friend Tom Miller, expert fly tier and old school constructor of knotted leaders, builds a 14-foot leader with a 4 ft 7x tippet. That may be a lot more than some people can handle but it tells us just how important terminal tackle is to this sort of angling. The long tippet is particularly important for gaining a natural drift.

While I prefer the down and across approach, positioning oneself in the best location relative to the rising trout is critical. There are cases where the down and across cast won't work because of water depth, the ability to make a back cast, where the sun is and any number of other considerations. The expert angler will play the angles just as a master pool player is able to read a table and make seemingly impossible shots. Read the water to determine how to set up your shot, so to speak.

In my opinion, it is how the fly looks to the trout that either elicits a take or does not. By that I do not mean pattern, but rather the drift of a fly. If you are failing to get takes while standing in one spot it is better to see if there is a different angle from which to approach your fish. Think through where you are fishing and how that approach looks to the trout before deciding to change flies. More than likely, just repositioning oneself will turn the trick. That could mean as little as a step to the right or left or having to exit the water (quietly) and taking up a whole new approach from a completely different position.

With regards to pattern, just as with many other flies out there, the angler has many choices. Probably too many. I keep it simple. The dun pattern mentioned in the previous blog is nothing more than a small bwo. I sometimes use a small emerger, but that is rare. My spinners consist of the old school polywing spinner (best in the early days of the spinner fall), a Battenkill Flats parachute, a fly with the hackle dubbed through the abdomen and clipped under the body, or a parachute with a poly post. All are very simple and sparse. Just like the naturals. That said, I am confident that whatever you are comfortable with - as long as it is sparsely tied - will be fine.

It is not unusual to see trico spinners floating downstream with upright wings. Flies like this are also easier to see.

When fish are taking spent wings a parachute such as the Battenkill Flats above are a great choice. They are tough to see but the trout take them with confidence.

As was mentioned previously; flying ants can mix in with tricos and fool the angler. Caddisflies are often on the water at the same time and there is a perpetual buffet of terrestrials. Given that trout are already rising, it is not a bad idea to give them something different to look at if you are not connecting with your trico patterns. Josh Greenburg, who owns Gates Au Sable Lodge, prefers a Griffiths Gnat when he fishes the Au Sables heavy spinner falls.

Perhaps the most important characteristic of the successful trico fisherman is persistence. After attending to the details of careful wading and getting into a good position, having the right terminal tackle and tying on a reasonable imitation, it is the ability to stick with it when things go south that wins the day. It does happen at times. The best trico anglers stick with it and think their way through solving the challenges in front of them. Or learn from those mornings that end in failure.

The best news of all is that tricos offer many many tomorrows that allow anglers to get out on the water and fish these fascinating little bugs. I encourage everyone to give it a try.