Joes Hopper

HOOK: TMC 5212, sizes 6-14 THREAD: Yellow TAIL: Red hackle fibers. Tie a loop of yellow poly yarn on top BODY: Yellow poly yarn. Alternatively, use foam or dubbing. Palmer with brown hackle, then trim the hackle close to the body on the sides. WING: Turkey wing quills. Treat with Flexament HACKLE: Brown and grizzly

Uses

Grasshoppers are terrestial insects that often stumble into rivers in late summer. If you encounter lots of hoppers in the grass near the riverbank, tie on a hopper pattern and see what happens.

How to Fish

Dress the fly with floatant and use standard dry fly presentations. On small streams, you can fish a hopper anywhere in the river, but on larger flows you will do best to present the fly right next to the bank. On larger rivers, the best places to cast are along the margins, no more than 15 feet from the bank, and often only inches from the bank. Unless you're fishing from a boat, you may find it works best to wade into the river and cast back to the bank.

 
One effective tactic is to cast so the fly hits shoreside grass, then lands in the river with a distinct plop. This mimics the natural insect. To further imitate natural behavior, give the fly an occasional twitch as it drifts.