Tricos in Western New York Streams

We are now in the middle of summer, which brings selective fish and the longest mayfly hatch of the year – the TRICOS!  Tricos have a lot to offer.  Early morning outings, clouds of bugs, small flies and technical fishing…  I love it!

At the start of their hatch cycle, duns will come off very early in the morning and fall 2-3 hours later.  The spinner fall is usually complete by 9:30-10:30am, but can be as late as noon as we get further into summer.

This is a picture of a female trico. Females hatch after the males in the early morning and fall a couple hours later. Photo by Lucas Carroll.

Tricos are very small.  Usually size 20-24, but as small as size 26.  If you have trouble with small flies, try throwing a terrestrial like an ant or beetle.  You may also want to consider preparing your gear the night before.  Tie a couple flies on light tippet (make sure you have male and female duns/spinners) coil them, put them in a plastic baggie and make a go of it in the morning.

This is a great time to fine-tune your cast so work in some reach, mend and stack casts (plenty of videos on YouTube for this).  Use long leaders (9′-12′) and 6x-7x tippet.

The craziness is over in a few hours and you have the rest of the day to yourself.  Enjoy!

Tight lines,

Jessie Hollenbeck

Wide Sky is booking trico trips today.  If you are interested, please give us a visit at wideskyflyfishing.com or call 585-314-5089.

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