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Thread: Trico Spinner Tails

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  1. #1
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    Default Trico Spinner Tails

    I have recently been reading the book "Matching Major Eastern Hatches" by Henry Ramsay. In his chapter on Tricos, Ramsay had a suggestion that I found very interesting ... that Trico spinners should be tied without tails.

    Obviously, the natural spinners have tails (and in fact, very long tails). But the author's suggestion is that by eliminating the tails, the fly's footprint on the water is significantly reduced in size which results in less micro-drag. In my experience fishing Trico spinners, getting a very accurate and very drag free drift is critical, so Ramsay's idea seems like it has a lot of merit. I'm wondering if anyone has experience or thoughts about this.

  2. #2
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    What about flotation/stability of fly?
    Last edited by Byron haugh; 04-27-2013 at 12:03 AM.

  3. #3
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    If you use fine tippet and make a decent cast, drag should not be a big concern. With Tricos, especially the spinners, I'd rather have the tails to help the fly float horizontally then with the butt hanging down, unless that's the presentation you're trying for.

    Allan

  4. #4
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    How does not tying in a tail reduce drag?

    In my view drag is caused not by the fly but by the tippet pulling tight to the fly and not allowing the fly to move with the current. I doubt there is any current differential between where the body of a trico is and the tail is.
    Regards,

    Silver

    "Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought"..........Szent-Gyorgy

  5. #5
    AlanB Guest

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    With drag when fishing spinner pattens (we don't have Tricos) I found that attaching it with a fixed loop knot is the biggest step forward. When I started doing that the number of takes increased dramatically. For this I use a Rapala knot now. Not the easiest knot around, and it has to be re tied more frequently. It is though, worth the effort.
    In my experience of fishing spinner pattens tails are better oversized than undersized or absent. As is often said though "your mileage may vary". Try tying a few without tails and fish them, but make sure you have some of your usual pattens with you. Then you can compare.

    Cheers,
    A.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Silver Creek View Post
    I doubt there is any current differential between where the body of a trico is and the tail is.
    Maybe I didn't describe it well, but the author indeed was talking about current differential between the body and tail. So, for example, a slightly faster current on the tail could drag the body. But, we're talking about a total length (tail plus body) of less than half inch, so maybe that's splitting hairs.

    I like AlanB suggestion of trying it and let the fish judge. Maybe I'll be prepared to snip the tails on a fly in a trico spinner fall situation and see if it makes any difference.
    Last edited by johnstoeckel; 04-27-2013 at 01:14 PM.

  7. #7
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    It seems to me that the Ramsay's point would be valid ONLY IF the tails of the natural tricos spinners were not on/in the water so the naturals would drift differently than a fly that had tails on/in the water. Tricos have a relatively longer tail (larger tail/body length ratio) than most mayflies, so only a portion of their tail needs to be in/on the water relative to other mayflies.




    Here are photos I found on the web of trico spinners. At least on these photos of spent spinners, the tails are on/in the water.
















    Regards,

    Silver

    "Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought"..........Szent-Gyorgy

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