Trico Cosmic Cripple Spinner.

This is the spinner pattern I have been using the last several outings. It was my result of an earlier fishing excursion. I noticed the the wings on trico, and other mayflies, are not coming from under or even the middle of the body. They are on the upper portion of the thorax.

The bodies of the flies are in the film not on the film as they drift down the stream. I tied this pattern with that thought in mind. I wanted to show the body down in the film and the wings on the surface. So far the testings of this pattern and its tying style, has been excellent.

With the way the wings are tied in, your capable of pushing them upwards and fishing with them up. This way your representing a cripple dun, cripple spinner, hell I'm sure the fish might even think its an emerger.(not that fish think) You can push the wings back flat again and it fishes very well as spinner. The moving of the wing from spent to upright doesn't effect the material, the material goes right back to the way it was easily.

Now many of you will say that's nothing new when you see the pattern, you might think its just a poly spinner. While poly (siliconized) is my favorite for the pattern, It doesn't mean its your run of the mill poly spinner. It does take some elements from other patterns. It includes a double or triple wing for larger flies. This of course is from the triple wing spinner, hands down a very effective pattern. And of course poly. Its how its tied that gives you a different fly.

Here is the fly and i'm working on a video of me tying this fly.

This the trouts view. Notice how the wings are set back as well. This is another observation of mine. The naturals wings don't come out of there head, like so many other patterns do.


This is a side view, you see how the ENTIRE body sits below the wings. This is yet another observation i made will seeing a natural trico spinner drift by.


Here is what it looks like when you force the wings up. It makes a nice cripple dun pattern. The fly lands and float on its side just like many cripples do. It give the one wing silhouette. You then can easily get the wings back to spinner style.

Video to come. Might not be the best quality, this humble fisherman cant afford a high end came to do great videos like Davie Mcphail. He's an excellent tier and does wonders with those videos. Check them out and listen carefully as he does give great tips and instructions.

Tight Ties
Johnny Utah

Johnny's Rock Worm Crack

This pattern is just a little adaptation of the trout crack tied by Mr. Wilson. I tied this pattern up some time ago, and have fished it quite regularly on the free stoners and have had good success with it. Its very simple to tie, the only handy thing is that with this tying style it pays to know how to hand whip.

So here is a tutorial of how to tie my rock worm crack.
Materials
Hook- I prefer a emerger hook, but any emerger or scud hook will do fine.
Thread- Mono thread. I like uni mono thread. In the sewing world its called invisible thread. You can get a ton for cheap, its good quality, you just have to re-spool it.
Body- Caddis green polar dubbin
Head- Black polar dubbin
Rib- Tying thread
Stripe- UTC vinyl rib. Use midge size for smaller patterns and nymph for larger


Hook in vice. Lay down a layer of thread back past the barb about a hook eye. This hook is Daiichi 1150. Its one of my favorites.


Dub your body up to about a hook eyes length before the hook eye.


Tie in your vinyl rib. Tie the rounded side Up. I'm using chartreuse. Olives make a nice stripe as well.


Dub your head.


Rib the fly back towards the barb. Take open close wraps. Rock worms have many segments. Make sure to put as much pressure on the thread as possible to really get it dug into the vinyl.


Trim of the vinyl, Now whip finish, With mono a regular whip will not hold well. I whip by hand so I came up with a whip that holds the mono. I call it the double twist whip, or the mono whip. When you rotate the thread over its self, on your hand turn, do it twice. This really gets that mono to bind together. Then you can head cement if you wish. If you do not do the mono whip you better cement.


Top view of the finished fly.

Here's one with a tan stripe. This is the fly that big bow crushed.

This is an emerger hook which i like very much, Its a Saber model 7050.
I have had no problems with this hook. Have been tying on it and fishing it for over 2 years. For the low cost sabers are great hooks. You can score 100 for 6.99 at the fly shack.

Soft Hackles. The Rusty Johnny, The bloody hares ear, and The J.C.E

I love soft hackles, they are very effective flies, and they are my favorite to tie. Here is some of my patterns. They are all brown trout approved.

This ones the Rusty Johnny



This one is the bloody hares ear.


This one I call J.C.E. (Johnny's caddis emerger) I have great success with this pattern. Bouncing bottom, swinging, in the film,it doesn't matter the browns eat it up.

U.V. High Test flash back scud.

Here is my flash back scud tied with my U.V. High Test blend. This one here had been fished all day and caught well over 15 trout. Its tied on a Mustad c49s #12, great hook. Deadly wild brown trout approved fly, the bows dig it as well.

J.E.U.'s Trico Emerger.

Here is my trico emerger. Its extremely simple, but yet highly effective. Floats great and is easy to see. Best of all Its brown trout approved!




This is how it sits in the water. The body will rides down in the film.
The hook is a #22 Mustad c49s, great hooks.
Here a video on how to tie the fly- J.E.U. Trico Emerger
Tight Ties
Johnny Utah.

The S.&J. Trico Spinner

Here is the S.&J. spinner. The wing is a mix of zelon and snowshoe rabbit foot. It floats great and best of all it is wild brown trout approved!





Hook is a daiichi 1130 #22.

Tight Ties
Johnny Utah

Montana Fly company emerger hook 7125

I said i would report back with how i like the hooks. Well, I had a 25 pack of #24s. I tied  all 25 trico patterns. I fished the hooks this week and let me tell you, they did extremely well especially for a #24. I had expected to possibly have several missed fished due to the size, Not the case at all. The hooks made great sets, and held the fish wonderfully. Had some serious pulling on the hooks and line. The hooks held up great, no bends.

Finally report, They are Excellent hooks. You can get the hooks @ Casters fly shop

Rusty Trout Bane. Jewel style.

Here is a rusty jewel trout bane. The latest in the bane series.

Tricos, Improved snow shoe, and my top secret spinner.

Its now later in the hatch, the trout have switched over to spinners that have begun to fall. I take off my emerger/cripple and tie on the T.S. Spinner or a improved snow shoe. Casting and drifts are the same. I'm still fishing above the fish, casting down and letting the fly present first.

I wasn't satisfied with the results of the snow shoe spinner, so I made some adjustments and I get better results with it. The key is to keep it sparse and small.


#24,Top view of the improved snow show spinner. The thorax cover is micro foam.


Bottom view of the improved snow shoe spinner. The thorax is black sts. Yes sts. Its possible to dub and tie a #24 with sts dubbing.

The Top Secret Spinner.


#24, T.S.S.


#24, Top Secret Spinner.


#24 T.S.S.

Trico emerger/cripple. Deadly!!!

Once i have finished my bagel and my coffee. Its time to get in position to catch the trout feeding on my favorite hatch, the trico!. Now when I say finish my coffee and bagel, there gone by 5:15 am. The whole while I'm watching and targeting a pod of risers, or one large trout that's enjoying the trico feast.

Now I'm putting my waders on and my rod is already rigged and ready rock. I did this the evening before. My leader total is about 18' feet long. I wade out slow as a snail, to get into position for my first cast. I like to be above the trout for this hatch. I have found from keeping notes, that I certainly get more takes presenting the fly first.

At this time in the morning, the females are emerging, and trout are well aware of this and feeding steadily. The pattern i display below is hands down the deadliest pattern I have used for this part of the hatch. I have another in the works, but for now this one is my go to. Its simply a standard mayfly cripple, tied very small.


This is a # 22 mayfly emerger. Tied on a daiichi dry fly hook.  The hackle is whiting dun neck hackle.
Two turns is all that's needed.

This is how the pattern should ride in the water. If tied properly it will also land this way on almost every cast.

My other spinners are next. Improved snow shoe, and my favorite, my top secret trico spinner.

#24 als trico and #24 A.D spinner

A.D. SPINNER


Trouts view of the a.d. spinner. A very nice silhouette. This baby cleans up during the spinner fall.

The hook is a montana fly company 7125. Its a nice quality hook. I havnt had the chance to fish with the hooks yet though. I will report how they do in field.

Tricos continued Johnny U's A.D. spinner.

Ok, lets get back to TRICOS! Here is one of the spinner patterns i use. Its very effective. Its Al's trico spinner with a twist. I made the butt green to show some eggs still left in females abdomen. I also brush up the hackle fibers to each side, then take some uv resin and put just a wee bit on the brushed up bottom of the hackles. I seen Davie Mcphail do this with a spinner pattern he tied on YouTube.  So thus the name. A is for Al, and D is for Davie. The A.D. Spinner.






I tied this on a size 14 standard shank hook for photo sake, I usually tie them on a 20-24 short shank dry fly fly hook. Light wire scud hooks work great for this. Remember tricos have a very short stubby abdomen.