How to Tie a Sunken Trico Spinner

Producer: Tim Flagler

This Sunken Trico Spinner is kind of a mash-up of two patterns – one from Colorado great Ed Engle and the other from Pennsylvania fly fishing legend Charlie Meck, both advocates of sinking a trico spinner even with fish are still rising.

I start with an Umpqua U202 scud pupa hook in size 22. After getting the hook firmly secured in the midge jaws of my tying vise, I load a bobbin with super-thin, yet incredibly strong Veevus 16/0 black thread.

Get your thread started on the hook shank behind the eye and take a few wraps rearward before snipping off the tag. Continue taking thread wraps down the shank until your thread is located at about the hook barb.

For the three tails of the fly, I’m going to use white Mayfly tails, also known as microfibbetts. Separate out and pull off three from the clump. Measure to form tails a hook and a half in length then lay the fibers against the near side of the hook. As you take thread wraps, the fibers will be pushed to the top of the shank. Continue taking thread wraps forward binding the fibers down as you go. Stop at about the 1/3 point on the shank then lift the butt ends up and snip them off close. Do your best to get the tails splayed out so the outer two are approximately 60 degrees apart. This can be a bit of a pain, just take your time and you’ll get it. The microfibbetts are tougher than they look.

To keep the tails splayed, I like to cheat a bit. I’ll place a small amount of UV cure resin on a scrap piece of paper, here a sticky pad. Then, scoop up a miniscule amount with a fine-tipped bodkin. I’ll skim the resin over the intersection of the tails and the thread body, then give it a good shot of UV light to cure it. This does an admirable job of keeping the tails reasonably splayed without adding a whole lot of bulk to the body of the fly.

For the wing, I greatly prefer white Antron. There’s something about its shimmer that looks so good and natural. Snip an inch-long piece from the spool then separate it lengthwise into equal halves. Lightly wetting the yarn really helps to keep it under control. Place the midpoint of the strand diagonally on top of the hook shank and take a few cross wraps to secure it.

The weight to sink the fly comes from .015 lead-free round wire. It doesn’t take a lot. Position your tying thread behind the hook eye then take wraps around the very end of the wire. Continue taking thread wraps rearward to bind the wire to the top of the hook shank, back to behind the wings. You can then stress the wire as you pull down on your tying thread to create a smooth ramp down to the body of the fly. Use your tying thread to build up the fly’s abdomen ever so slightly. Keep wrapping all the way up to behind the wing.

Black beaver fur is used for the thorax of the fly, a wisp is all you need. From this, it’s a good idea to strip out any of the longer, thicker guard hairs. You really want just the light, fluffy underfur. Pull down on your bobbin to expose about 3” of tying thread and build the smallest of dubbing noodles on the thread. It should be super thin and less than an inch in length. Start taking cross wraps with the noodle to completely cover up the wire weight and create a bulbous little thorax on the fly, just like on the naturals. When you’re satisfied with the look, pick up your whip finish tool and use it to complete a 3 or 4 turn whip finish, seat the knot well and snip or cut your tying thread free. Trim the wings to about a hook gap in length and your Sunken Trico is ready for subsurface battle.

The trico hatch can be a tough one to fish but sinking a spinner will definitely stack the odds in your favor.