Hey, I wondered what you were doing in my flybox. You said you just checking out the Scotch tape hinge. With you stealing flies and Bruce taking my evening attire, I'll soon have nothing to fish with, and nothing to wear around the campfire.
The upside down Trico is indeed tied on the Varivas 2300 (formerly 988) hook. It looks like the Dettes in Roscoe may have some of these now, but I'd call to confirm:
http://www.detteflies.com/varivas_2300
Microfibbet tail, thread abdomen, superfine thorax, grizzly hackle, trimmed on the top that becomes the bottom of the fly. I've taken to reverse hackling these, though that one was whip finished at the eye, and I put a little superglue on the thorax where the hackle is trimmed.
Last week after trying a number of different flies on a fish that was in a spot to have already seen many, many flies before I came along, I tried one of these in size 26, tan, to match the olive spinners on the water. He came up immediately and took the fly, made a blistering run, wrapped me around a stick, and got off. But I didn't care after getting him to eat. It does work on pressured fish. Gonzo has another very effective upside down Trico in his book.
My standard Trico is based on Al's Trico,(see below). It lets me get an Al's Trico silhouette with a much more visible parachute fly. For all my Tricos I use a short shank hook, (Tiemco 500U, Tiemco 2488, Tiemco 921, Daichi 1640, or best of all. if you can find them, a Varivas 988—now 2300). I begin by winding two or three layers of 10/0 thread on the shank for the abdomen (black for males, white, green, or chartreuse for females. With females, I whip finish the thread, then tie in black just at the bend and finish with black thread), I tie in a white high vis post near the bend. Other materials may be used, and black, pink or orange posts can sometimes better be seen in glare. I use Gary Borger's method, slipping the high vis under the shank and pulling both ends up to create a post that can't pull out. A few X wraps under the hook to secure the post, a tiny drop of super glue at the base and some more quick X wraps and posting wraps at the base of the post and up a bit, and the post is ready and won't slip around later. Then I strip some barbs from an oversize grizzly hackle, tie in it in along the shank and then wrap the stem up the post to to reinforce and stiffen the post. Next I wrap a small ball of black dubbing for the thorax, wrap the hackle around the post and tie off. (I wrap clockwise and when done, trap the hackle stem with the thread under the wraps, and with the hackle tip pulled straight down by the hackle pliers, I whip finish using a whip finish tool under the hackle on the post with a 3-4 wraps. An ultra-mini drop of gorilla glue on the thread of the final whip finish loop that is going to be pulled into the knot is pulled in from below, avoiding the hackle, to lock it all in permanently.)
Or you can wrap the parachute counter-clockwise and tie off on the shank, just behind the thorax, whip finishing along the shank.) Finally, if you wish (though I’ve stopped doing this for tiny flies), snip off some hackle barbs just above the eye and the shank to create the illusion of two wings to the sides, and your’re done. That’s right. No tails. The high vis post makes the fly much easier to see than Al's Trico, and it can be left long or trimmed/flattened if the fish seem to mind it. I haven't noticed that they do mind the post, though some fish seem to want a different style of fly sometimes. Hard fished Spring Creek trout in State College took the parachute readily the last time I tried it on them. It's often the first pattern I tie on, switching around to other styles if the fish won't take it. The parachute Trico can be used as a midge imitation also. I use this pattern, reverse style as above, or with the parachute near the eye for larger spinners as well, though I do add tails for these usually.
Al's Trico from http://www.littlelehighflyshop.com/generic3.html [website now gone, as Rod has sold the shop]:
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”One of the Little Lehigh's treasures is Al Miller. Al starts at the eye of a size 24 Mustad #94840 hook and winds 12/0 thread (black for males, white for females) to the bend. He ties in a #22 grizzly hackle. A black thorax is dubbed and tied in over the spear of the hook. Two or three turns of grizzly are wrapped over the thorax and tied off. Winding the thread to the eye and whip finishing it completes the fly.”
"He spread them a yard and a half. 'And every one that got away is this big.'"
--Fred Chappell