Sometimes, I repeat - sometimes - a drag free, and that in itself is difficult to define, is not necessary or even desired. Check out Hewitt and his use of the Neversink Skaters, bomber patterns and other patterns where creating a wake or movement is desired.
Byron, you seem to say that insects have natural drift and drag. Completely agree.
Haven't tried these yet as the trico's are significant here when the bass season is open so I don't spend much time trout fishing. The short tail may provide some stability. It is possible that fish eat tricos with 'stunted' tails
trico 2.JPG
I've got two fly fishing authors that paint the trike hatch in words for me...Hemingway and Marinaro:
"As far down the river as he could see, the trout were rising, making circles all down the surface of the water, as though it were starting to rain."-E.H. Big Two Hearted River
"As far as the eye could see,several hundred yards at least, the entire surface of the water was a mass of dimpling rise forms, occurring and recurring with increasing tempo as the evening advanced." V. Marinaro...A Modern Dry Fly Code.
The Trike hatch is my favorite fly fishing experience. I catch fish after fish after fish during the spinner fall....all my black and whites have always had tails as long as I could find and I never had a problem attracting or hooking a trout.
Size is all important, and be mindful that the bugs get smaller as the hatch progressive. When the fish are on #28 you're not going to do very well on #20. Here's a bowl full of #24...note the tails.
"As far down the river as he could see, the trout were rising, making circles on the surface of the water, as though it were starting to rain."- E.H., The Big Two Hearted River
hairwing,
Totally agree even though in the Catskill Rivers the fish get on the duns and the spinners as early as when the fog lifts in the morning. A few years ago I was going to attend a program at the Catskill Fly Fishing Center and I was fishing the Willow about a mile west of the Center. I watched as the sun rose and burnt off the morning dew, the tricos started dancing and the fish started rising.
All my tricos have tails and I was fishing in gin clear water. Oh, and as you said, SIZE does matter. I was actually able to watch fish come up to size 20 and back off. Put on a size smaller and the fish did the same. Got down to 28 with an 8x, or maybe it was a 9x tippet, and the fish quietly sucked that spinner in. Several fish latter I had to leave and it was barely 9:00am. I've also used size 30 and 32s tricos and tiny olives on same stretch of water and landed 4 legal size trout. Oh it's C&R water.
Allan
Allen,
" in the Catskill Rivers the fish get on the duns and the spinners as early as when the fog lifts in the morning.",Your quote.
Locally the duns hatch at or before daybreak, and I gave up long ago trying to fish the hatch since the fish seemed uninterested. I'm sure they conditioned themselves to the massive spinner fall and were willing to wait. Here around Denver the mating occurs soon after the sun comes over the ridges allowing the flies to dry their wings. Fish activity starts shortly and goes on for about an hour to sometimes two hours, so it's fast and furious. Most fish porpoise right under the surface or move to shallow water to feed rather than rising up and down from a three or four foot deep holding spot expending too much energy.
94840 #28's are small and when the hatch starts to peter out and the flies reach this size seems only the smaller fish are eating them. Signals time for new tactics for me.
John,
No I haven't tried them without tails. Never occurred to me since what I've been using works more than ok with me.
I was addressing the OP in which johnstoeckel relates that Ramsay states...."that Trico spinners should be tied without tails." Seemed pretty dogmatic when in my experience I had no trouble with the tails, so I thought I would express my opinion. This micro-drag concept related to tails in my way of thinking is a little far fetched.
"As far down the river as he could see, the trout were rising, making circles on the surface of the water, as though it were starting to rain."- E.H., The Big Two Hearted River
John,
I have to tell you too that I haven't read Ramsay's book and haven't factored the "micro-drag" idea in my fishing either. I can put some pretty mean slack in my fly line when needed and must be compensating....or I'm fishing for the same dumb fish you're fishing for. That must be it!
Last edited by hairwing; 04-30-2013 at 07:42 PM. Reason: sp
"As far down the river as he could see, the trout were rising, making circles on the surface of the water, as though it were starting to rain."- E.H., The Big Two Hearted River
John,
I can tell you that I have been standing near the bank on the Henry's Fork and seen all sorts of spinners floating by. They are often spun around by changing currents................
I think John Scott's by line "The fish are always right" says it all. There are way too many variables (per John's post above) and opinions on this for me to sort through, so I'm going to let the fish tell what's right. When I'm fishing a trico spinner fall in a few months, I'm going to get in a groove by catching some fish with my usual fly (with tails) and then I'll clip the tails short and see what happens.
Last edited by johnstoeckel; 04-30-2013 at 11:41 PM.
Just about as often as not, fly fishing gurus and most notably authors on the subject, are as right about their views as would be anyone else with a reasonable amount of exprience. Just like a broken clock, they've got to be right twice in a given cycle. Tails needed? Allow me to add to what John's signature comment, "The fish are always right" ... 'and therefore, they are more right then writers, authors and fly fishermen'.
I happen to respect the "respected" fly fishing authors. Ones who come immediately to mind are Mike Lawson, Rene Harrop, Craig Mathews, Gary LaFontaine, Randal Kaufman, Jack Dennis, etc., etc.
These guys have logged many, many more hours fishing, tying and studying insects, rivers, and trout than I dare say any of us.
I have learned a lot from these guys and really respect their observations and opinions..........
Gary Borger, for example.
Last edited by Byron haugh; 05-02-2013 at 04:43 AM.
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