Trico Nymph

The Trico, short for Tricorythodes, are perhaps the smallest of mayflies being only about 4 mm long. However, Tricos are a very important source for food for trout and therefore of great interest to fly fishermen. The Tricos are also known as the “winged curse” because they are so difficult to imitate. They are multi brooded because they can hatch from July through October. They can be found in trout streams throughout the USA.

Nymphs:

The nymphs are crawlers and are terrible swimmers and they habitat the spring creeks, freestone streams and some tailwaters in the East, Mid West, and the West. They prefer soft loam, gravely, or sandy bottoms in the streams and are fond streams with vegetation nearby. They are more abundant near the tails of slow and/or deep pools.

Nymph Presentation:

First of all, due to its diminutive size hook size is very important and a size 20 is the best selection. Remember 1mm difference in size can be a 20 to 30% difference in size. We offer the “Perfect Fly” nymph in hook size 20 only. The fly can be fished in the surface skim or weight can be added to achieve various depths. If fished weighted, you may need a strike indicator due to the tiny size.

Use sizes 6X or 7X tippets and if possible walk the banks to keep from spooking the trout. In our opinion, the up and across presentation works best. However, If the water is very smooth or slick such as it is in many spring creeks, you may want to use a down and across presentation.

Typically, the best time to fish the nymph is during the hatch which can occur very early in the morning on the hot summer days.