Time to get hopping: grasshopper fly pattern
This hopper fly tie resembles the plentiful and attractive-to-fish grasshopper.
This fly tie pattern resembles a grasshopper, which by now are matured enough to be an attractant to trout.
The Letort Hopper is just one of many fly tie patterns that imitate the grashopper.
Walk through the brush that grows along any stream this time of year and you will see a multitude of grasshoppers leaping away from your strides. This is the season of the hopper. By now they have matured enough to be an attractant to trout when they hit the water. Most of them are in the 1 to 1 ½ inch size; a perfect morsel for a hungry fish. The latter part of August and through September they will begin to reach their full growth and you will find them up to three inches in length.
The number of patterns that imitate a grasshopper are nearly endless. A quick list would include such patterns as the Bullethead Hopper, Madam X, Turks Tarantula, Klod Hopper, Dave’s Hopper, the Letort Hopper, Joe’s Hopper and even the Chernobyl Ant represents a hopper. The famous Muddler Minnow is a great hopper imitation when dressed with floatant to keep it in the surface film. Even an oversized elk-hair caddis can be used to imitate a grasshopper.
The vast majority of today’s hopper patterns have a few things in common. A foam body (usually yellow or tan), deer or elk hair for the under wing, mottled turkey for the over wing, and legs either pre-tied pheasant tail or foam leg material. To get a quick view of the various patterns do a quick Google search for “Grasshopper fly patterns.” There are literally hundreds of variations.
One of the basic versions I like to tie is a foam body-bullet head. Here is a list of materials that can be used for this fly. You don’t need to use all of them, mix and match as you like.
Foam body-bullet head materials needed
HOOK: I use a strong 2x or 3x long hook. Choose sizes 6 thru 12 depending on the size of the hopper you wish to tie. THREAD: Slightly heavier than that for regular tying. Choose yellow or tan thread in sizes 140 or 3/0 depending upon the brand you use. TAIL: Although most patterns do not use a tail, consider either two red goose biots or a loop or red yarn can be an attractant to the pattern. Each of these should not exceed a ¼ inch in length when tied in place. BODY: The body can be composed of either dubbing material or Float foam. My choice is foam, there are two types of foam I like to use, both are from Rainy’s: Small Yellow FLOAT Foam or Gorilla Bodies for hook size 8 to 12. If you use dubbing material be sure to use super fine yellow or tan that is specific for dry flies; this will not absorb water as easily as some dubbings. HACKLE: A brown or orange-dyed grizzly hackle can be used to segment the body.LEGS: I like to use knotted hopper legs made from the tail feathers of a pheasant. Many patterns use medium or large rubber leg material. Combine these by using the knotted pheasant for the rear legs and the rubber material for the front legs. UNDER-WING: This can be either elk or deer hair. The Wapsi “PREMO” deer hair dyed yellow or orange is an excellent choice. You can also incorporate some crystal flash into the under-wing to give more shine to the pattern. Also consider a large golden pheasant tippet for the under wing. OVER-WING: There is nothing better than mottled turkey. Depending on the color of the hopper you wish to tie use either the tail feathers for darker back or wing feathers for lighter backs. HEAD: This can be either deer or elk hair. You can even use an extension of foam to form the head.
Tying instructions
I find that a bullet head hopper is one of the easiest patterns to tie and can be very effective. To tie bullet head hoppers begin by pinching down the barb of the hook and place the hook in your vice.
Step 1: Wrap the thread of your choice from just behind the eye of the hook back to the bend of the hook.Step 2: At this point tie in a couple of red goose biots or a small loop of red yarn. Step 3: Tie in your hackle that will be used to enhance the segmentation of the body.Step 4: Cut a piece of foam the length of the hook shank. Trim one end at a 45* angle – this will be the tail. Here you can also use a Gorilla Body, remember to keep their light colored side as the underside of the fly.Step 5: Slit the foam on the short (under) side about ½ of the way through. Step 6: Apply a small amount of “Crazy glue” to the thread on the hook shank.Step 7: Press the foam around the hook shank to about 1/3 of the hook shank length behind the hook eye. Tie in with the longer side of the foam on top. Step 8: Secure the foam with 4 or 5 tight wraps of thread. This imitates the segmented body found on real hoppers. Step 9: Wrap the hackle in the grooves made by the thread. A little glue will help keep these from unraveling. Step 10: Tie in one knotted hopper leg on each side of the foam about half way down the foam. This is optional. Step 11: Cut a dozen or so elk or deer hairs and use a hair stacker to get the ends even. Step 12: With the ends of the hair just short of the tail of the fly, tie in the hair at the head of the foam, trim the butt ends and wrap tightly. This is where you may substitute a golden pheasant tippet. Step 13: Trim a mottled turkey feather and tie in over the hair.
To prepare a bullet head:
Step 14: Take another bunch of hair and even the ends with a hair stacker. Step 15: Place the hair with the even ends extending beyond the eye of the hook and wrap the butts tightly up to the eye of the hook. This will cause the hair to flair outwards. Step 16: Using a large half-hitch tool, a straw or a .243 cartridge case, work the opening through the flared hair, over the eye of the hook, and push the hair back over the fly body. Tie this off just before the end of the foam. Step 17: Tie in a couple of medium rubber legs on each side of the fly and trim so that the front ends barely extend beyond the hook eye and the rear ends extend to end of the flared hair. Step 18: Whip finish, and you are done.
Fishing the foam body-bullet head
Fishing hoppers is somewhat different than normal dry fly fishing. Forget the long delicate casts to rising fish. The trout that will be feeding on hoppers will be holding near the banks of the stream or near other structures in the stream where the currents are not as strong. Usually where the banks have undercuts you will find this is the best place to fish a hopper.
Hoppers don’t gently fall on the water – they hit with a SPLAT. When casting a hopper, cast so that it hits the water fairly hard. The “splat” will send out ripples along the surface of the water. This ‘splat’ also sends out vibrations through the water that the trout will pick up with their lateral lines.
If you do not get an instant strike, let your hopper rest. In nature hoppers will rest in the water before beginning to swim towards a bank or other structure. I believe this is due to the unfamiliar environment they find themselves in and them wanting to get their bearings to the nearest escape route.
Let the fly rest till the ripples disappear; then give a slight twitch with the rod or a couple of short strips of line. Let the fly rest again, then begin moving it back towards the bank using the rod tip or longer strips of line to guide the hopper.
I normally do not make more than three of four casts to typical cover where a trout may lay. If there isn’t a take it means that there may not be a trout present in that location.
The hopper patterns will also make great strike indicators if you drift a nymph 18 to f24 inches below the hopper. Recently I had two trout on at the same time, one taking the hopper and the other the nymph.
Cricket and cicada patterns are similar to hopper patterns with the exception that they are bulkier and use darker, mostly black, materials. If you are fishing the Green River be sure to have some cicada’s in your fly box beginning in the late spring through early summer.
I keep one fly box filled with various hopper, cricket and cicada patterns. Unless you are using at least 3X, 7 pound breaking strength, tippet or heavier, expect to loose a few flies to break-offs. Strikes from trout can be very explosive. They do not want to loose a choice morsel that provides lots of calories to sustain their lifestyle. If you get an explosive strike and miss, let the hopper rest – the trout will be back to slurp the “stunned” hopper into its mouth. Some of my best hopper patterns are those that have been mauled a few times.
