The fly box · No. 17 of 36
Dave’s Hopper
Grasshoppers blown off meadow banks on warm, windy afternoons.
- Kind
- Terrestrial
- Hook sizes
- 8–12
- Season
- Summer, autumn
- For
- Trout
- At the vice
- An involved tie
The dressing
| Hook | 2X or 3X long-shank dry fly, barbless or barb flattened, sizes 8–12 |
|---|---|
| Thread | Yellow, 6/0 (140 denier) for the body; a stronger thread for spinning the deer hair |
| Tail | Red deer hair, short, beneath a small loop of the yellow body yarn |
| Body | Yellow poly yarn, palmered with a brown cock hackle clipped short |
| Rib | None |
| Hackle | Brown cock, palmered over the body and trimmed close |
| Wing | Underwing of pale yellow deer hair; overwing a section of mottled turkey quill, treated with flexible cement and rounded at the tip |
| Also | Legs of knotted cock pheasant tail fibres, one bunch each side; collar and head of natural deer hair, spun and clipped |
Tying it
- Tie in the red deer-hair tail and a small loop of yellow yarn over it at the bend.
- Tie in the brown hackle, wind the yarn forward over two thirds of the shank, palmer the hackle and clip it short.
- Tie in the yellow deer-hair underwing, then the turkey overwing lying flat along the body.
- Tie in a knotted pheasant-tail leg on each side, angled back and slightly down.
- Spin deer hair in front of the wing, letting the tips of the first bunch form a collar.
- Pack and spin more hair up to the eye, then whip finish.
- Clip the head flat underneath and square on top and sides, leaving the collar tips.
Fishing it
Hot, breezy afternoons from midsummer into early autumn, wherever long grass leans over the water. Use 4X (0.18 mm) and turn the fly over firmly so it lands with a small plop close to the bank. Let it drift, then give one short twitch, as a struggling insect would. Takes can be sudden and heavy; wait until the fish has turned down before you lift. On rivers with few grasshoppers it is still worth a try in a wind.
Where it comes from
Dave Whitlock, the American tier and illustrator, built his hopper by joining the yarn body and turkey wing of the older Joe’s Hopper to the clipped deer-hair head of the Muddler Minnow, then adding knotted legs. The result has the bulk, the low float and the kicking outline of the real insect, and it has been the standard grasshopper ever since.