CDC Trico 02/27/2019 Photo Album

In my previous post on the FP Merger, I described a fly, that I created to solve a challenging situation, that I encountered on the Frying Pan River in early May of 2018. Only time will tell if the FP Merger imitates the tiny emerging midges savored by Frying Pan River trout.

On 09/06/2018 I endured a similarly frustrating day on the South Platte River. For a two and one half hour period beginning at 11:00AM an abundant quantity of hungry and large trout gorged on a dense trico spinner fall. At the end of this aquatic feast I could only report two landed fish. I was grateful for the presence of massive quantities of tasty delicacies, but I was also frustrated by my inability to hook and land more fish. I pledged to address the situation during my winter fly tying activities.

Overhead Look

In February the time arrived to solve the trico spinner puzzle that frustrated me on the South Platte River in early September. The natural tricos that I observed were very tiny; I estimated that they were equivalent to a size 24 hook, and they possessed extremely slender bodies.

I clamped a size 24 Tiemco 100 hook in the vice and wrapped a thread base of black 6/0 from behind the eye to the bend. At the bend I split two very fine dun microfibbets, and then I wrapped a slender tapered abdomen, until I reached a point one-third of the shank length behind the hook eye. I knotted the 6/0 black thread and attached a spool of 8/0 thread at the forward end of the abdomen. I switched thread to minimize bulk on the minute size 24 fly. Next I stripped ten CDC fibers from a gray wing and rolled them in a bundle and attached them to the top of the front one-third of the hook. I executed a series of figure eight wraps that forced the CDC to align perpendicular to the hook shank, and then I dubbed super fine black dubbing in the thorax area. I completed a three wrap whip finish and snipped the thread. The 8/0 thread was necessary to minimize the bulk created when adding the figure eight wraps, dubbing and whip finish. For my final step I pinched the CDC below the shank and forced the fibers upward and cut them so they were equal in length to the abdomen.

Dun Microfibbets, CDC Feather and Black Thread

I am very pleased with the outcome of this effort. The flies are very dainty, and I am convinced they will present an accurate profile of the naturals that I observed in September 2018. The CDC wing will aid floatation, until they are gobbled by a ravenous trout. Drying and fluffing the CDC after it becomes saturated will be a future challenge, but I have managed it previously with my CDC BWO imitations. The CDC trico will be very difficult to track, but I can always resort to the double dry ploy with a larger visible dry fly in front of the small trico.

Ten Tricos

Trico hatches do not generally develop until late July, so I have five or six months to wait, before I can test the ten CDC tricos that arrived from my vise in February. As always I am overly anxious to test my new flies in a real world application.