Mayfly Family Leptohyphidae (Tricos)

I'll start with a fly patterns, follow with a bit of what I think I know about Tricos (Entomologists, please offer corrections if needed), and close with a few questions.

I love designing different patterns for Tricos, partly to keep myself entertained, and partly to show the fish something new from time to time. Jason's photos and the opinions of some fussy fish have led me to tie an extra large thorax recently on all my Tricos. My old standby is a parachute tied reverse, with a high vis post over the bend of the hook, and grizzly hackle, with no tails. It's modeled on Al's Trico, which can be found on the Little Lehigh Flyshop website. It's very visible and fish generally approve. My newest fly is a take off from one of Gonzo's (Lloyd Gonzales) patterns in his book Fly-fishing Pressured Water, and it also shows the influence of Al's Trico. Gonzo ties an upside down Trico on a wide gap hook using synthetic material for the wing. I tie this fly also, and it certainly does catch fish, but I recently tied a version with grizzly hackle, making an oversize thorax and palmering hackle over the thorax to create a full wing. I then clipped hackle from the top of the fly (which becomes the bottom, as this is an upside down fly) so that the fly would sit flat, upside down, on my tying table. A drop of Locktite brush-on super glue on the bare recently clipped thorax after darkening the hackle stem with black marker and the fly was done. (By the way, I put tails on this one to balance it [P.S. Later correction: this pattern doesn't need the tails. I've caught plenty fish now on a tailless version] .) It caught several fish the first time I tried it on a heavily fished stream.

I believe for some, if not most species of Tricos, males hatch at night, females in the morning, and that the spinners fall when the air temperature hits the upper 60's. This generally means that as the season goes on, spinners hit the water later and later. Sometimes by 7:00 am (or earlier) in the early summer, by 10:00 (or later) in the fall.

It's been unseasonably cool in the Northeast the past couple of days, and I would have gone out this morning but for taking my daughter to a midnight showing of The Order of the Phoenix (I just couldn't get up) but I'm wondering if the spinner fall happens later than normal on cool mid-summer mornings like today's. I hope to find out Monday, but am curious if anyone has experiences to share. Also, does anyone have an effective Trico pattern to share? I'm always looking for ideas.

I have two keys (Pekarsky et al and Merrit and Cummins) listing Tricorythodes in the tricorythidae family, but Troutnut and Voshell show tricorythodes in the leptohyphidae family. Has tricorythodes been moved to leptohyphidae or vice versa?

I thought I would put these trico patterns up on this board as it gets the most attention and they might have a better chance of finding their way to the person that was looking for new ideas. These patterns are material specific and all proven on the water. I am a small fly fanatic, I use a double zero wt. sage with very light/long tippet. I do hunt for big fish.... yes it is true.

Two summers ago I used nothing but dun patterns, all thorax patterns and few Catskills mixed in for good measure. The results where incredible with the fully hackled thorax dun patterns. Who says that spinner patterns are the only way to fly during the trico season... wrong! wrong! wrong!

After the spinners are drowned and well down river the sporadic tricos that sparkle like diamonds over the slick holds get plenty of attention. I again tested these pattern on Spring Creek last year with like results... testing grounds were WELL below the pardise on a well known road curve in that river (yea that multi micro current ego bashing pool) I had several misses and finally some scores that lifted my spirits before the rain spoiled the rest of the trip. If you know the pool I speak of you may also know never let a big fish get below you as the battle will soon be over and the walk back up to the bridge will be L-------------------------------o-----------n-----------------g. If you like the fly's and need a materials list let me know. OUT.

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THORAX TRICO QUILL BODY



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TRAILING SHUCK PARATRICO



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CDC EMERGING TRICO
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HOW MANY TIMES DO WE HAVE TO GO THRU THIS???? PLEASE STAY OUT OF MY FRIGGIN BACKCAST.....Grabbit.....

i noticed a small swarm of tricos mating between 330 and 4pm today, is that rare?
the air temp is in the mid to high 70's and its sunny