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3. Tricos

I've had poor success with my Trico duns but they are #20 so I will tie some #22 and #24 duns today. Have done well on #22 spinners with the very fine Krystal Flash material. I'm not sure what it is called. Black fur body and three white tails. Also doing well with #20 - #22 Griffith's Gnats. Seems that fish are caught more easily at the beginning and then at the end of the spinner fall.

I've not brought my thermometer but would guess the water is in the very high 60's probably in the 70's by noon. Not many other guys fishing so you will have plenty of water. I usually see no more than half a dozen guys on a section of water a couple of hundred yards long.

The rainbows are very fat and healthy and will run line if your drag is set lightly. I've been using 7X most of the time but have caught a few fish on 6X. You can easily wade wet and I've yet to go in over my knees however there are a few deeper sections. I'd recommend nothing heavier than a #4 and I've been using a #3. I've gone three times in the last two weeks. The first trip I rose a dozen and landed eight the second trip they were tough and I only landed four but rose another eight. On Friday I rose over a dozen and landed nine. I've seen numermous fish 13" - 15" in the water.

If you live within an hour of the creek I would recommend the trip if you live further away than that it may not be worth it as you will only have four hours of rising fish after the spinners stop there are no rising fish and while you can see them on the bottom it does not appear that they are feeding - besides it becomes unbearably hot and humid

Matt,

Some guys go down to size 26 for local Trios. Try the Al's Trico spinner pattern, on the Little Lehigh Flyshop website, or find the Trico threads on this site for some other spinner patterns. I believe that sometimes showing them something different is very helpful. Tiemco 2488's or 2499's allow you to tie a tiny fly with a good hook gap. I've done well locally with showshoe wings and CDC wings, but they take a lot of care to keep them floating. Frog's Fanny is just about the only thing that works for me after a fish or two has drowned them.

Louis,
I started using Frog’s Fanny quite some years ago and was very impressed with its effectiveness as a floatant. I could be wrong but it seems to act like a desiccant instead of a repellant, drying a wetted fly very quickly. My question to you is - have you found its continued use causes a whitening effect of the tying material? That was my experience and the reason I discontinued its use on darker flies. Please tell me that you have discovered a cleaning method to remove the built up residue and restore the color. Or could it be that I have exceeded the flies usefullness and should replace it anyway? I hate doing that with flies that, for whaterver reason, continue to out perform the others just like it.

Falsifly,

I also discontinued use of Frog's Fanny at one point for the same reason, but started using the stuff again (mostly because I like the way it dries and fluffs CDC and Snowshoe, I suppose). Recently I haven't noticed the lightening effect as much and it hasn't bothered me. I've had good luck with fish taking the flies, so I don't worry about it. I have been applying some super glue to my Trico thoraxes at times, so they may not be holding the powder now. Try a good washing with the sprayer from your kitchen sink, using a wire mesh colander perhaps, or an air blast from a compressor if you have access? I did recently refurbish some hackle flies by steaming them with a teakettle, but the problem was misshapen hen hackle wings and hackles, not too much Frog's Fanny. The steam worked nicely for the desired purpose, though.

I just ordered some "Dry Magic", supposedly it works even better on CDC.

John, let me know what you think. I haven't been that impressed, but I may not have given it enough of a chance.