It is currently 28 Mar 2024, 13:29


New Topic Add Reply
Author Message
Baetis or Trico?
Post 11 Oct 2021, 21:43 • #1 
Master Guide
Joined: 04/02/14
Posts: 537
Location: US- Northern CO
do you guys tie and carry Baetis and Tricos or do you just have some mayflies in various sizes and light and dark colors?
on the water i couldn't tell you one from the other, don't know that much about bugs but fishing mayflies is great fun, i know that much.


Top
  
Quote
Re: Baetis or Trico?
Post 12 Oct 2021, 07:34 • #2 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/26/14
Posts: 3578
Location: US-MN
For trico duns, I use a small BWO CDC comparadun, with olive dubbing. For the trico spinner fall, I use Al's trico with black dubbing.


Top
  
Quote
Re: Baetis or Trico?
Post 12 Oct 2021, 09:04 • #3 
Master Guide
Joined: 04/02/14
Posts: 537
Location: US- Northern CO
Have you ever used a baetis pattern on your trico hatch? I’m thinking those two words are used interchangeably For fly tying patterns


Top
  
Quote
Re: Baetis or Trico?
Post 12 Oct 2021, 10:41 • #4 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/26/14
Posts: 3578
Location: US-MN
Hi Kid,

Yeah, what I was trying to say is, during the Trico hatch for the duns, I use the same CDC comparadun I use for a BWO hatch for the duns. Usually a size #22.


Top
  
Quote
Re: Baetis or Trico?
Post 18 Oct 2021, 14:09 • #5 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 07/11/14
Posts: 1784
Location: urban Colorado
baetis is the common name for approximately 150 different species of mayfly, which vary widely in color and slightly less so in size.
So yes I just carry a few different mayfly patterns ;-)
http://www.troutnut.com/hatch/180/Mayfly-Baetis-Blue-Winged-Olives

I've had good days on baetis hatches, and days where I couldn't find anything they would take. Sometimes a #22 or 24 RS-2 emerger tied with CDC will work when all else fails.

with tricos I usually just throw all the #24 and #22 patterns I have at indifferent fish, then give up and go looking for a fish that will take a big streamer..


Top
  
Quote
Re: Baetis or Trico?
Post 18 Oct 2021, 15:27 • #6 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 11/06/17
Posts: 2498
Location: South of Joplin
I usually ignore anything smaller than #18, so I might be using a palmer or a spider in both those hatches. Seriously I have no idea why people try to imitate #24-28 Tricos, my leader knots are bigger.
But in general my go to dry pattern is one of the Catskill Variants, so kinda generic mayfly.


Top
  
Quote
Re: Baetis or Trico?
Post 19 Oct 2021, 11:15 • #7 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 12/05/06
Posts: 2086
Location: US-PA
I have found over the years that as far as flies I tie & carry, when it comes to sub-size 20 duns with grey wings, they are pretty interchangeable so my flies are all the same (I like thorax or parachute patterns) with minor variations in body color (so I can use up some of the different color thread & dubbing I have).

In my neck of the woods, female Trico duns tend to have a more of a pale olive body with a dark thorax so I make sure there are at least some of those in 22-24 to boost my confidence level during the Trico hatches, although like most, I am usually fishing the spinner fall.


Top
  
Quote
Re: Baetis or Trico?
Post 19 Oct 2021, 11:48 • #8 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 04/20/07
Posts: 8920
Location: US-ME
Soft hackles in a few body colors with a wisp of hackle, ready to be trimmed astream. These tiny flies are usually not worth casting blind or in prospecting style. Instead, the looking position, taking position, and feeding rythym of a fish is best observed without casting or movement. Soft hackles work for any stage of a hatch as they float just fine for a few casts to a specific taking fish at the time the fish is ready to take, but at the place the fish wants to see the fly.


Top
  
Quote
Re: Baetis or Trico?
Post 19 Oct 2021, 12:36 • #9 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 11/06/17
Posts: 2498
Location: South of Joplin
whrlpool, how small do you tie soft hackles and with what feathers for the smallest?


Top
  
Quote
Re: Baetis or Trico?
Post 19 Oct 2021, 13:18 • #10 
Guide
Joined: 08/21/18
Posts: 168
Location: West Yellowstone and Atlanta
I have sometimes found that when smaller than 20/22 size baetis/tricos/midges are the only game in town, it is sometimes the best use of my time and energy to go take a nap. That said there is some helpful stuff in this thread that might limit my napping in the future. Thanks.


Top
  
Quote
Re: Baetis or Trico?
Post 19 Oct 2021, 19:44 • #11 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 12/05/06
Posts: 2086
Location: US-PA
I may be in the minority, but maybe because of my Pennsylvania pedigree, I have a real passion for fishing tiny-tiny stuff.

I have a decent amount of modern (TMC/Daiichi) hooks down to "today's" version of a 32. I tie and fish midges, midge pupa and other minuscule stuff with regularity on 8X and really enjoy fooling fish that seem as surprised as I am when I land them.


Top
  
Quote
Re: Baetis or Trico?
Post 20 Oct 2021, 08:56 • #12 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 04/20/07
Posts: 8920
Location: US-ME
Trev, this last few years, it is too much labor for me to tie anything that small. I am more apt to use a size 18 hook and tie the body the size it would be on a smaller hook. I have several boxfulls accumulated over the years, some I tied better than I can now, and some purchased. I use any old wisp of downy feathers, gray from a ruffed grouse wing, duck flank feathers, or anything downy picked from a neck or wing. CDC would be another. Or one old down sleeping bag or coat from a Goodwill store will keep you in business. Sometimes, just soft hackle fibers arrayed around the hook in a tent or V-shape, as opposed to a wound on hackle. I can still manage that on a small hook. For a little more float, poly yarn fibers. Even a little bulb of dubbing with a lot of protruding guard hairs at the head. Probably somewhere in this "whatever is at hand" list you could tie a way neater fly than I can. The body color and attitude of the fly on the water seem most important, so sometimes the oversize hook helps hang the fly through the surface film just the way the fish want to see it.


Top
  
Quote
Re: Baetis or Trico?
Post 20 Oct 2021, 14:38 • #13 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 12/05/06
Posts: 2086
Location: US-PA
Tying tiny isn't for everyone, but a pair of these changed my life at the tying bench and to be honest, I use them for every size fly and not only do my flies look better, I recommend them to tiers of ALL ages because it just makes life a lot simpler.

Also, "lesser coverts" from small birds like starlings & snipe make ideal small fly soft hackle. Just make sure what you buy is legal where you live.



Top
  
Quote
Re: Baetis or Trico?
Post 20 Oct 2021, 14:58 • #14 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 11/06/17
Posts: 2498
Location: South of Joplin
whrlpool, To me smaller than #16 it seems the soft hackles lose proportion, if wound on, with about all the feathers I've tried, but by working just with loose fibers, I can get the fiber lengths right but even then smaller than #18 the fibers appear to be way too thick, to my eye. When i fished the trout ponds in the N.E., I did tie a lot of #20 & #22 using just the web from the butt of dry fly hackle and other fluff, but, I had to ask because I'm always looking for a better solution. The small body on a larger hook is one that I used a long time.
I do have a few quail that a son in law pelted out for me and I haven't used yet, they may have some tiny soft feathers that I haven't seen yet.

@Bamboozle, which focal length works best at the bench?


Top
  
Quote
Re: Baetis or Trico?
Post 20 Oct 2021, 16:23 • #15 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 04/20/07
Posts: 8920
Location: US-ME
I "see" your point and I think Bamboozle or somebody else could give specific solutions better. I am using the term "soft hackle" in the loosest sense, the fibers or fuzz being the length of the body at most, often much less. Didn't mean to mislead with a more classic soft hackle proportions in which the hackle kind of encases and closes around the rear of the body. Ones I purchase are often too long for my liking, and way too much. That's OK since I just trim away extra fibers, so the body shows and the remaining fibers are freer to move. Ones I tie myself may be sparser, but I might also include a few tail fibers, to be trimmed away on the stream if appearance of a more compact body is wanted. I don't know when somebody came up with the term "flymph," but that is the style for some I'm trying to describe. Again, most I see are not nearly sparse enough for my liking, but could be trimmed.

Absolutely, I'm making a virtue of necessity, since I just can't mess with fine detail tying. Still, I have a box of trico spinners I tied quite carefully decades ago. They look "better," but have been used less as kind of a one-trick pony. I depleted the box more by taking a few out, trimming and thinning out the wings--in other words, making them more generic. The more generic style I throw together are far more versatile and I've used many, many more of them over the years in just a few body colors.


Top
  
Quote
Re: Baetis or Trico?
Post 20 Oct 2021, 16:30 • #16 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 12/05/06
Posts: 2086
Location: US-PA
Trev wrote:

@Bamboozle, which focal length works best at the bench?

It's a working distance thing so you have sit down at your bench and figure out how far away your eyes are from your work when you are seated COMFORTABLY, not leaning in.

I also have a second pair for "leaning in" with a shorter focal distance when I tie the REALLY tiny stuff and feel I need more magnification. OptiVisor also sells an add on loop that beefs thing up even more if you want that.

IF you wear eyeglasses, you may have wear them down around you nose to see things lying on your bench but not IN your vise, because you may find wearing your glasses in conjunction with the head loop screws up your working distance.

It's not as complicated as I am making it sound, I just want to give you an idea how to choose & what to expect.

The great thing about a head loop versus a desktop magnifier is you won't whack it with your hand when winding materials like can happen with a magnifying glass and you can use them for a lot of other stuff.


Top
  
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  

New Topic Add Reply



Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 7 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Jump to:  
Google
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group