Trico Tutorial 101- Doesn't Have to be a curse anymore!!!

                    (Tricos smoking a cigerterre after sex- what a pitiful end!Colin Monihan image)

The British called the Caenis/Trico hatch "the white curse".Because they were so minute and hard to find a hook in those days small enough, it was the impossible fish the hatch
.
 But today from the big fertile tailwaters like the Delaware to the the Bighorn, freestoners like the Beaverkill and Big Hole...to the small spring creeks from Pennsylvania, Driftless area, Michigan to Montana, tricorythodes or the "trico psycho time" is the summer gig and staple hatch lasting up to 5 months. It provides the very consistent bread-and butter nourishment for trout along with terrestrials on every trout stream you find them.

So don't be " CURSED", here are some small tips on how to catch Trico trout...and LOTs of them, and yes even 20 inchers will eat  500 plus tricos in a day !!!

* Have both patterns: males and females: one is all black thread, the other is white clear theard with a ice dub peacock thorax- also have double patterns of a male and female connected in a longer shank #16 hook..use Organza Hareline wing material
*Use larger, wide gape hooks like Daiichi's 1110-1140, (#20) and bend the gape out and to the side, this greatly enhances your hooking potentials

* Long, very long leaders (16-18 feet) allow you to cast into multiple pods of fish without lining them...long 6-7 feet tippets of subtle Varivas or Cortland fluorocarbon tippet's 6-7x allow for long inspection times, since most fish are sipping in pods in pools and tail-outs where dead spinners accumulate after spinning near shoreline riffle areas.
* concentrate on the biggest trout which usually has the biggest sipping bubble...stay with the fish and switch patterns from M/F to double...8x only at last resort.
* be out really early on very hot days-sun-up- later as fall progresses
* hook set is downstream of fish, with rod tip almost touching water, very slowly and deliberately for small hook to penetrate- the lower rod tip profile maintains rod tension

That's it!!!...a 20 plus incher like thsi will have throatfulls of black and whitw gobs of spinners. So for the ultimate big trutta chase- hex fish all night and do last call on the daybreak trico hatch- double whammy!!!

Here is a our Muskegon Leopard Eagle Lake Rainbows that love to sip tricos everyday- note the belly full of tricos!

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Posted in: Brown Atlantic Nexus , gray drake lodge , Matthew Supinski new books , mayflies of Michigan , Michigan hatches , muskegon fly fishing , Selectivity book , tricos

TRICO MADNESS HAS BEGUN -THE WHITE CURSE

    ( male and female trico spinners- a prolific tiny mayfly hatch all summer to fall- image Colin. Monahan )

A massive "super hatch" has started up on the mighty Muskegon. It started back in the late 1990's, but it waxed and waned over the years.But the last few years it has come on strong with yesterdays hatch rivaling Bighorn proportions. Pods of rainbows and browns fed on them in the deep spring fed pools- the dry fly action was epic!

Check out these very cool videos I took yesterday by clicking on link below

Tomorrow- Trico hatch details 

https://www.facebook.com/matthew.supinski/videos/1425289894163338/

https://www.facebook.com/matthew.supinski/videos/1425293684162959/

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Posted in: gray drake lodge , michigan fly fishing , Michigan hatches , muskegon fly fishing , muskegon river hatches , tricos

LATE SUMMER HATCHES ON LOWER RIVERS/MUSKEGON

(Steno Cahill hatches will appear in the evening on lower river segments starting now thru October and the trout are all over them!- JGMiller mayfly images)

(Tiny bwos- Pseudocloeon #24 starting now thru November-blizzard super hatches in September and October-- Tricos am- Some Isonychia on cool nights, flying ants and next post- upper river caddis and midge hatches)

Get out and enjoy- with cool nights and days-mild summer!- long leaders/6-7x- ultra fussy trout!

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Posted in: Blue winged olives , cahills , flying ants , gray drake lodge , michigan fly fishing , muskegon fly fishing , Muskegon hatches , tricos

August is Unfolding Nicely!

Summer steelhead are just coming in. Mild days and cool nights perfect weather for  summer steelhead, trout and Atlantics. Caddis /midge and trico hatches, terrestrials and night fishing all in full steam!...and large tomatoes and heirloom sweet corn?...life couldn get better!- no heat waves in sight!

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Posted in: gray drake lodge , Great Lakes atlantic salmon , Great Lakes summer steelhead , midges , summer skamania steelhead , super caddis hatches , tricos

IT'S ALL HAPPENING !

The amazing fall season is here!!!!!...king salmon finally coming in good numbers...we pool fished swinging flies all week....browns sipping tricos and bwo small olives in evenings...now pilagding eggs...steelhead soon to arrive!

NOTE:..CHECK OUT OUR THREE FACEBOOK PAGES FOR SEVERAL UPDATES DAILY ON WHAT IS GOING ON!!!....PAGES '
* SELECTIVITY TSS-TROUT, SALMON STEELHEAD....PAGE '
*GRAY DRAKE AND TROUT AND EAGLE'....AND PAGE
 *MATTHEW SUPINSKI.......CHEERS!...NA ZDROWIE

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Posted in: Blue winged olives , brown trout , gray drake , great lakes king salmon , Great Lakes steelhead , muskegon river fly fishing , tricos , trout and eagle

THE P/D TO S/R- TO A/A SUMMERTIME SELECTIVITY SHUFFLE -TOPIC -FREESTONERS

( afternoon ant eater on a cow country spring /freestone mix) 

It's an amazing time of year! In decades past states would close their trout seasons in July (PA for example). But now with more tail waters and focus on mountain ice cold frestoners and spring creeks, this is actually the most challenging and rewarding time for the true troutsman to shine.

FREESTONERS

There are two main types....valley frestoners and high altitude mountain gradient freestoners. The first is usually a series of tributaries culminating into giant freestone rivers -the Catskill and Montana rivers can describe these waters. In teh summer there is strong trout migrations towards ice cold thermal brooks and refuge areas- Horton Brook on the Beaverkill is one example.

The later has very cold mountain spring caverns that keep its predominantly wild trout-mainly brookies, happy and cold all day.

SELECTIVITY SHUFFLE

The mornings usually see the tiny trico hatches couple with a few rusty Pseudocloeon spinners (bwo). Also a few very large leviathans are stirring from the night feeding foraging binge before they go P/D for an afternoon snooze.

Afternoons are the S/R mind game venues that trout play with terrestrials; ants, beetles, hoppers..etc. I say' mind games' because though they really relish these morsels, they somewhat always question the authenticity of their being...and make very complex/compound rises

  
Night and evening activity brings out the A/A behavior of the larger brown trout that go on the hunt for anything that moves: large pteronarcys stoneflies, mice, snakes...anything that will feed these 70 million year old modern dinosaurs...concentrate around bridge pools, and deep pools with wooded structure. 

Next...spring creeks !

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Posted in: freestone , gray drake lodge , michigan fly fishing , muskegon fly fishing , Selectivity book , selectivity dvd , terrestrial insects , tricos , trout and eagle lodge

Summer Steelhead and Tricos

( Chris Bamford from Akron with a round 20 buck)

Yes we actually saw a smaller summer run sipping tricos the other day...very cool! The amazing summer run of 2013 continues!

( the Mysis Procopius)

On the Muskegon, caddis in the upper river and blue -winged olives and Cahill's in the lower river...trout are on them

And from Iceland's Stora Laxa where the Atlantic run has been amazing ,Arni Baldurson shares his gorgeous dogs!

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Posted in: Blue winged olives , cahills , gray drake lodge , Great Lakes summer steelhead , muskegon river fly fishing , summer skamania steelhead , tricos , trout and eagle lodge