Summer Hopper Fishing

As you can imagine running a fly shop I have unlimited hopper patterns to choose from and I do try out a lot of them and they all work in varying degrees . I would like to say Daves Rubicon Hopper gets the best results but alas not so.   Miss Knobby X wins hands down, especially sizes #14 and #12.   Why is this you may ask.   Let's see if I can give you the reason. The fly rod and fly line are the best money can buy - No.   The fisherman is the best and the most accurate caster in the world -  No!

 So lets cut the bull.   It's the fly and it's special materials and the way it's built.   Starting with the long shank hook as hoppers have long bodies.   There is no dubbing with a medium gauge yellow Chenille.    This is the most important part of the fly as the Chenille absorbs water and makes the fly heavy.  More on this later.   The next material is almost as important as the Chenille is the deer hair.     This should be American White Tail deer body hair.   Why?   Each hair is hollow and once it's crimped tight to the hook gives the fly great floating capacity.   There must be plenty of it as this compensates for the heavy wet Chenille.   Tied between the deer hair and the Chenille is a Pheasant body feather helping to bulk up the body.    Tied to either side are a few orange Pheasant neck feathers representing legs or body colour.  Last, but not least, springy banded rubber legs.   All material are tied to the top of the hook except the Chenille.

What more could a hungry trout want.

The all important Chenille, well, the wet all important Chenille.   Kick the grass along the river bank during the hopper seasoned  and when a hopper jumps and lands in the water it lands with splash like a small stone.   Hoppers, for their size,  are bloody heavy but unlike the stone they float.  This is key signal to a trout lurking along a high  or a not so high bank.

Dave's Tip. Give the presentation cast a slight pull back just before the fly hits the water and this adds to the splash.